Sydney, Nov 28 (IANS) Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood says he’s aiming to be available for the ‘back end’ of the Ashes as he is still recovering from his hamstring injury.

Hazlewood missed the opening Ashes Test in Perth after a second set of scans confirmed a right hamstring injury he sustained during a Sheffield Shield game for NSW shortly before the first Test, and has also been left out of the squad for the day-night second Test at the Gabba, starting on December 4, as Australia have named the unchanged squad for the second game.

Hazlewood, however, has bowled in the nets this week in Sydney with a red ball, boosting hopes that he might get a shot in the later stage of the series, meaning the series may be decided by the time he bowls a Test delivery against England.

“It’s coming along slowly. I’ll have another bowl today; I just started the other day. Running and everything’s going well,” Hazlewood said at the SCG on Friday.

“It’s probably tough to put a timeline on it. I think ‘Ron’ (Australian coach Andrew McDonald) probably nailed it the other day — play a part in the back end, hopefully. Hopefully it’s not still in the balance, hopefully we’re on top by then,” he added.

Hazlewood also stated that fellow quick and Australian captain Pat Cummins was looking strong ahead of a possible return for the Brisbane Test, which begins next Thursday at the Gabba, but Cummins was later left out of the squad and has been given an extra two weeks to return to full fitness.

“He’s been ticking a lot of boxes the last few weeks. I saw him bowl on Tuesday with the pink ball, everything was going pretty good,” Hazlewood said.

Cummins trained strongly at the SCG on Friday, bowling at what appeared to be full speed to Steve Smith for more than an hour with a pink ball after getting through a similar session at NSW’s Cricket Central headquarters on Tuesday and has a strong chance to return to the side for the third match in Adelaide beginning December 17.

–IANS

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