SYDNEY: Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood says he is fit and ready for the Ashes series against Eng­land after taking six wickets and coming through a Sheffield Shield match unscathed.

The 26-year-old was forced to return from Bangladesh following the first Test after picking up a side strain that also ruled him out of a subsequent limited-overs tour of India.

Hazlewood showed his injury problems are behind him with a satisfying performance for New South Wales against Western Australia earlier this week and he has been taken out of the team for next week’s match against Queensland.

He will instead train as part of Australia’s Test attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Jackson Bird at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane to prepare for the opening Ashes Test from Nov. 23.

“Things went pretty well the whole game,” Hazlewood told reporters in Sydney on Friday. “From ball one I was pretty surprised with how well the ball was coming out, how good the run-up felt, how good everything [was] in general.

“I’m pretty happy with where it’s at now so I don’t think there’s a need to play another game.

“I’m ready to go now and we obviously talk with the coaches and selectors and physios and whatnot, everyone is on the same page and ready to go.”

Fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile could miss the Ashes series after breaking down with another back injury.

He was expected to be among four quick bowlers selected in the hosts’ squad for the first Test but has been ruled out for an indeterminate period of time.

“I feel a bit sorry for Nath, but he’s done a lot of hard work to get back from different things and I’m sure he’ll put in the hard work again and come back from this one,” Hazlewood said.

“Nathan experienced some pain in his back following the two-day tour match against England last week,” Cricket Australia’s Sports Science and Sports Medicine manager Alex Kountouris said. “Subsequent scans have revealed an early stage aggravation of his old stress fracture.

“Whilst this is a setback, the good news is that it has been picked up early so we are only considering a short break from bowling while we monitor him.

“We expect he will have further scans over the next month which will determine when he can return to bowling.”

It is a massive blow for the 30-year-old, who has played 21 One-day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Inter­nationals but has suffered a long list of injuries and is yet to make his Test debut.

He would likely have been the fourth-choice quick bowler in the squad behind Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins.

However with the Gabba wicket traditionally providing some assistance to pace bowlers he also could have been in the mix to make his Test debut in Brisbane.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2017