Australia Reject Josh Hazlewood Finds World Cup Too Painful To Watch

Australian pace spearhead Josh Hazlewood admits he is barely watching the World Cup as his disappointment at not being selected continues to cause him pain.The 27-year-old was overlooked after being out of action since January with a back injury, as selectors preferred him to focus on getting ready for the Ashes Test series in England, which begins in August. Australia went in with Jhye Richardson instead of Hazlewood for the ongoing World Cup 2019. Even when Jhye Richardson was withdrawn from the tournament, the selectors pikced Kane Richardson ahead of Hazlewood.

Hazlewood is currently in camp at Brisbane with the Australia A squads -- along with the likes of Peter Handscomb, Travis Head and Marcus Harris -- ahead of their departure for England on Friday for a seven-week tour.

Now fully fit, he said he had was trying to avoid the World Cup and direct his energies elsewhere.

"I'm trying to focus on what I'm doing up here," he told cricket.com.au on Wednesday. 

"I'll sit down at night and watch a couple of overs but I'm trying to steer clear of it a little bit.

"The more you watch something, the more you probably miss it. So I'm just trying to pretend it's not on, to a degree."

Instead his focus is on the Ashes, and he warned that he would be fresh and raring to go against the English batsmen.

"I know I can do a great job when I'm physically pretty fresh and that's how I'm going to enter this Ashes, so I'm looking forward to it," he said.

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia Cricket Team Josh Hazlewood Jhye Richardson Kane Richardson World Cup 2019 Cricket