Hazlewood and Australia brace for big WTC challenges

Josh Hazlewood has said the ICC World Test Championship remains a constant priority for Australia even outside a home summer, after the side had to settle for a 1-1 series draw against Bangladesh that saw them concede valuable points in the standings.

Hazlewood said Bangladesh's fast start in Darwin had put Australia under early pressure, and while the response in Mackay showed the team's quality, the workload of the first Test had been significant.

"1-1 was probably not the result we were after. We were probably after 2-0, obviously," Hazlewood told reporters.

"They're big points in the WTC as well, which is a goal in the background for us at all times.

"Bangladesh came out straight away and played some good cricket there in Darwin, so probably got us on the back foot a little bit and just took us too long to get into the game, but I guess we showed what we can do in Mackay. Darwin had a pretty good workload. We're out there every day of the four days."

Australia's next assignment in the WTC cycle takes them to South Africa in October, starting with the first Test in Durban from October 9, before the series moves to Gqeberha and concludes in Cape Town. The three Tests will be preceded by as many ODIs against the Proteas.

Australia will then host New Zealand for a four-Test series across December and January, before their WTC campaign builds to a five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy assignment in India between January and March 2027, which will be their final series of the cycle, and one expected to go a long way toward deciding their chances of making a third successive WTC final.

With a packed stretch of international cricket ahead, Hazlewood is also optimistic with where he stands from fitness perspective.

"I'm very pleased with where I'm at physically. (I've) done a lot of work, probably the 10 weeks leading into that series; it was probably our last big training block before what's to come. Very pleased to come out the other side pretty much unscathed."

Asked about balancing his workload through the upcoming schedule, which also includes two ODI series, Hazlewood said he is focusing on getting as much time as possible on the field.

"I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can (within) reason."

"We've got two ODI series before that Test match series, so it might be playing two out of three in both of those. I think once you're at that intensity, which we're all at now, it's about trying to maintain that as best we can."

Australia’s immediate assignment in the World Test Championship cycle is a challenging tour of a South Africa, a team that beat them to the title in 2025.

There are doubts over Kagiso Rabada’s fitness ahead of that series, but Hazlewood isn’t drawing too much from it with still some time left for the South African to recover.

"We don't know exactly how bad the hamstring is. He seems to recover from any sort of niggle pretty quickly.

"He's an unbelievable athlete. So, we don't think about it too much this far out. Things will become clearer as we get closer. But I'm sure the batters will rather face someone else than KG,” he said.