WI vs AUS | T20I series gave me some good lessons with the white-ball, admits Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood with the Australian team
|Josh Hazlewood has admitted that playing the four T20I matches against West Indies gave him some important lessons that helped him in the first ODI in Australia's win. Hazlewood also acknowledged the fact that he hasn't played enough T20Is because of his commitment to Test cricket.
After being thrashed 4-1 in the T20I series, Australia had to make amends in the ODI series, starting with the first ODI against the Windies. Australia's new-ball pair of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood dazzled the West Indies batting, which had several changes from their victorious T20I campaign, to fold their inning on 123 within 26.2 overs.
Hazlewood, who didn't have a great T20I series, scalped the wickets of Shimron Hetmyer, senior batsman Darren Bravo and all-rounder Jason Holder to end his six overs' spell with 3/11. The right-arm pacer felt that he didn't execute his plans in the T20Is against robust West Indies batters, where he managed to pick only four wickets from as many games.Â
"I just mis-executed a few times. I think my plans are really good, I just didn't execute at the right times. I certainly bowled some good overs here and there but went for some big ones here and there too. But the West Indies, that's probably the way they play as well," Hazlewood told Cricket.com.au.
"They're a power outfit and we knew that going in. You're probably not going to face more daunting guys than those guys in that format. (There were) some good lessons there. When the wickets are really nice and the ball is not swinging or doing anything off the wicket, it can become a weakness," Hazlewood added.Â
Before the West Indies tour, Hazlewood has never been a regular in the shortest format owing to the red-ball duties and had just played nine T20I matches since making his T20I debut in 2013. Hazlewood is thankful for the number of opportunities he is being presented to play T20I cricket and added that he looks forward to the Bangladesh tour where Australia will play another five-match T20I series.
"That's just about me becoming a bit more proactive before I get hit off my length. It's about learning that as well â I haven't played many T20s for Australia so it's a good position to be in to play a couple on the bounce and in Bangladesh as well (after this tour)," Hazlewood admitted.Â
"It's good to just to get a run of one-day and T20 cricket. Normally (they come) on the back of a Test series and you're pretty much cooked coming into it, and you're just getting through it game by game. To play these games nice and fresh, against a quality outfit, holds you in really good stead," he added.
