News of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood possibly fronting up for the IPL only weeks after missing a grim T20 World Cup exit has already ruffled a few feathers back home. Even so, national selector Tony Dodemaide insists the issue is as dull – and frustrating – as a calendar clash, nothing more.
“It is what it is,” selector Tony Dodemaide told reporters on a mid-week call. “It’s a timing issue. If it was in reverse, the IPL was first and the World Cup was second, then they’d be missing the IPL to play in the World Cup.” A moment later he doubled down: “It’s not going to be frustrating for us at all. We know their commitment to want to play and succeed for Australia.”
Australia’s quick-bowling stocks looked thin without the pair. Across defeats to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, only all-rounders Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green managed wickets – four in total. That lack of penetration left the reigning champions bottom of the group, nursing bruised egos and scratching for answers. A formal review will begin once the squad touches down.
Hazlewood has been battling a string of lower-leg niggles – hamstring in November then a mix of Achilles and calf trouble – and hasn’t delivered a competitive ball since last spring. Cummins has not played since the Perth Ashes Test just before Christmas, when he sliced through England for six wickets in 34 overs. Medical staff mothballed him soon after, wary of a lumbar stress issue that flared last winter.
Both bowlers are tracking towards full fitness in late March. That schedule dovetails neatly – and awkwardly – with the IPL start. Understandably, supporters who stayed up night after night hoping for wickets in the Caribbean will ask why the return could not have been brought forward a fortnight.
Dodemaide’s answer is blunt: recovery timelines are influenced by medical advice, and rushing world-class fast bowlers is rarely clever. Those inside Cricket Australia repeat that line; whether the public buys it is another matter.
Selection chatter hasn’t stopped at the quicks. Steven Smith flew in midway through the tournament as cover yet did not feature in the must-win Sri Lanka game. The decision, or non-decision, rekindled debate about his exact role in the T20 side.
“As we’ve said before, we see him [Smith] primarily at the top, and that’s where he’s coming into the squad for cover of that area,” Dodemaide said. “He was only really available for game three, which was the game that we had our best performed pairing, which is Bison [Mitch Marsh] and Heady [Travis Head], did extremely well.”
Smith’s late arrival stemmed from Mitchell Marsh’s freak testicular injury in training. Early word suggested Marsh would miss at least one group fixture; subsequent scans prompted a rethink and Smith, scrambling across time zones, ended up with a watching brief. In the end, Marsh and Head put on 104 in 8.3 overs against Sri Lanka – sparkle that highlighted just how little went right elsewhere.
Australia’s think-tank will spend the next few weeks pouring over numbers: barely-used spin, powerplay wickets that never came, fielding errors at key moments. Some shortcomings, like the missing new-ball pair, jump off the page. Others are subtler – poor lengths on slow pitches, batters failing to adapt from BBL-style hitting to Caribbean surfaces prepared with less pace.
There is, of course, another global event looming. Champions Trophy qualifying starts later this year, and the BCCI has suggested a shorter IPL window to help boards prepare. If that happens, Australia could find the timing dilemma reversed, not solved.
For now the message is simple, if not entirely satisfying. Cummins and Hazlewood were unavailable when it counted, available when the IPL rolls round. It might not feel fair to fans, yet it is only cricket’s crowded diary flexing its muscle once again.
