Josh Hazlewood going down before the first Ashes Test is exactly the scenario I’ve been flagging for a while.

When your leaders are all in their mid-to-late 30s and have heavy workloads banked, the odds eventually turn on you.

While losing captain Pat Cummins to injury was already a blow, one injury to a frontline quick is manageable. Losing two out of the big three starts to rewrite the whole script for the Ashes.

It narrows Australia’s margin for error, and it forces selectors into decisions they’d hoped they wouldn’t have to make this early in the summer.

England will be watching the developments in the Australian camp closely. They’ll be pleased, of course, but probably a touch frustrated too, because their spearhead Mark Wood is under his own injury cloud.

Both sides know their a

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