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Hazlewood urges youngsters to ease Warner, Smith's workload

07:35AM Wed 4 Oct, 2017

Josh Hazlewood, the Australian paceman, has urged their maligned batting order to click into gear with the looming Ashes fast approaching.
Australia's misfiring batting has come under pressure after continual collapses across the formats, including most recently during their Test tour of Bangladesh and a comprehensive 4-1 One-Day International series loss in India.
For some time, Australia has been heavily reliant on leaders Steve Smith and David Warner with batsmen around them struggling for consistency. Hazlewood asked Australia's batsmen to take the load off Smith and Warner.
"When they put up those stats up of hundreds scored over the last three or four years, it really does show that Smith and Warner score the bulk of those," Hazlewood told Sky Sports Radio. "I think it's a case of a couple of young guys standing up."
Hazlewood believed Usman Khawaja would be in line for an Ashes recall after being dropped in Bangladesh. "It's going to be a big series for Usman Khawaja. He's obviously fantastic on home soil, he's very confident of his ability here," he said. "I think (Peter) Handscomb and (Matt) Renshaw can hopefully stand up and put some big scores on the board. Take that bit of pressure off the skipper and vice-captain."
Despite those concerns, Australia is heavy favourites to reclaim the Ashes due to question marks over England's ability to bat in Australian conditions. In a potential major blow, Ben Stokes, England's star all-rounder, may be banned for the series following an off-field incident.
However, Hazlewood believed England still had firepower to contend but revealed Australia would try to exploit their batting weaknesses. "They've got a couple of experienced guys at the top with Root and Cook, but there's obviously some gaps there which are well documented," he said. "The extra pressure falls on Bairstow and Stokes, if he ends up coming, and senior bowlers.
"There's a few gaps there in the top-order that we can hopefully exploit and put that extra pressure on those experienced guys," he added. "Stokes adds some balance to the team but whether he comes out or not is out of our control."
A side strain ended Hazlewood's tour of Bangladesh but he is expected to play in the Sheffield Shield ahead of the Ashes.
© Cricbuzz