Josh Hazlewood: Australia's metronome back in the side and terrorising England

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: In his first international appearance for seven months, Hazlewood set the tone with a ruthlessly efficient opening burst that pinned the England batting lineup down and chopped off its head

There is nothing flamboyant about Josh Hazlewood the bowler, nothing eccentric, in fact he borders on the mundane.

His run-up is a gentle, fluid movement - the mechanics of a morning jogger doing laps in the park - and there is no explosion as he arrives at the crease.

There’s no quirk to his action, no unusual angle to his arm, he is what you might have got had you asked Ikea to design a flat-pack seamer.

And his effectiveness comes from that simplicity.

Here at Lord’s, in his first international appearance for seven months, Hazlewood set the tone with a ruthlessly efficient opening burst that pinned the England batting lineup down and chopped off its head.

Ball after ball, finding an area not much bigger than a manhole cover on a good length, between six and eight metres from the stumps. That is some skill, by the way, and written down can be made to sound so much easier than it actually is.

Anyone who has spent hours, pint in hand at the ocho, desperately trying to land double 20 to win a game of around the clock will understand. Yet here there was nothing bouncing off the rim, nor making holes in the wall, nor endangering unknowing locals at the bar.

Hazlewood was on point. Fully 64 per cent of the balls he bowled in a sensational opening spell landed on that good length, and after five overs he had figures of 2-4 with three maidens.

It was quite some display, especially considering there was very little swing on offer - just 0.49 degrees, on average, during the first 20 overs of this Test - and reminiscent of a former Australian great who so loved playing at Lord’s.

Glenn McGrath collected 26 wickets in three Tests at the Home of Cricket, at a ludicrous average of 11.5. His success was based on similar principles to those employed by Hazlewood today - accuracy, consistency, regularity.

^{Josh Hazlewood bowled beautifully on the first day of the second Ashes Test at Lord's}

He focused on length and made batsmen make mistakes, though unlike Hazlewood - who bowled from the Nursery End - McGrath made the most of bowling down the famous Lord’s slope. McGrath’s good-length percentage at Lord’s was 61.5, by the way.

Comparisons between the two men have become commonplace over the past half-decade.

Both hail from the New South Wales bush - Hazlewood’s childhood home in Tamworth is 180 miles north-east of Narromine, the small town of 4,000 people where McGrath grew up; both made their Test debuts at the age of 23, though McGrath was 67 days younger; they reached 100 wickets in the format in very similar time - Hazlewood in 25 matches to McGrath’s 23; both were 26 years old when they did so.

After Hazlewood took his 100th scalp, against Pakistan at the MCG in December 2016, McGrath even went so far as to suggest he could one day go on to become Australia’s most prolific wicket-taking fast bowler of all time.

Injuries had stunted such mighty acclaim in the time since, but in his comeback appearance on Thursday at Lord’s, Hazlewood revisited all the lessons that were taught to him by his coaches back home during his adolescence.

It is no coincidence that the 28-year-old has McGrath-like tendencies. From an early age, he was drilled to mirror his idol’s action by his coach John Muller, a one-time left-arm quick who played with and against the likes of Richie Benaud and Keith Miller.

When in peak form, just like McGrath, all Hazlewood requires is muscle memory and good planning.

And that’s exactly what Australia got in this second Ashes Test.

^{Glenn McGrath had a feted record against England at Lord's, and Hazlewood sparked comparisons between the two here}

Hazlewood had already given away his gameplan to Jason Roy, in a national newspaper interview prior to the first game of the series. “I think just stick to the basics of Test cricket,” he said, when asked how best to combat England’s latest opener.

Second over of the day: good length, hit the seam, tempt the error.

Roy had been told what was about to happen yet walked into the trap anyway, a bear suckered by the lingering scent of free meat.

He swatted horribly at Hazlewood’s loosener, played and missed again the following ball and then rode a rising delivery into the hands of wicketkeeper Tim Paine. He should have left it well alone, but in asking the question Hazlewood got his desired response.

Now the sights were trained on England’s captain.

Australia will have known of Joe Root’s recently-discovered fallibility to balls targeted at his stumps - since the start of 2016, perhaps in part because of a change of backlift which opens up scoring potential for the England captain in the offside, Root averages little more than 15 to deliveries in this area.

Muscle memory and good planning.

In jogged Hazlewood again - a wave to the neighbours, a nod to the postman -  and out popped a tidy in-jagger that struck an overbalanced Root on the front pad. There was no point in reviewing.

Later, he would see for Joe Denly, too - a wonderful example of bowling in partnerships that saw Pat Cummins rough up England’s No.4 before Hazlewood gave him the opportunity to hit the eject button.

A quite supreme day’s work, made all the more impressive when Hazlewood’s lack of gametime over the past seven months is taken into consideration.

He may never quite reach the lofty heights McGrath once suggested he might, but Australia will be delighted he is able to try.

To celebrate England winning the World Cup you can subscribe to The Cricketer for just £20.19. Click here to learn more