Beyond The Metronome: The Craft of Josh Hazlewood

Josh Hazlewood just keeps flexing his sheer skills. Image Credits: AFPWho should get credit for Wiaan Mulder’s dismissal on Day 5? Nathan Lyon for superstitiously swapping the bails just before the over? Alex Carey for a full-stretch dive to his left to take a one-handed stunner? Or Mulder’s own bad luck to edge an otherwise innocuous leg-side delivery?That’s how Josh Hazlewood’s Test career has panned out at times. He’s often the last to get credit, as happened here, even though he was actually the bowler. Maybe it was a combination of everything, but the seeds of this dismissal were sown before the over even began.Hazlewood was getting substantial movement with the old ball on the final day and had already placed a leg slip. His lines were straight for a reason. So was Mulder’s edge, even if the wicketkeeper took the catch instead of the leg slip.Josh Hazlewood’s metronomic accuracy overshadows his skillsJosh Hazlewood’s accuracy is so ingrained that it almost defines him as a bowler. Even in the Durban Test, he landed 55.56% of his deliveries between 6 and 8 metres, the most among Australia’s pace trio. So, his skills and game awareness often go unnoticed.“He (Hazlewood) is a superstar. He obviously gets spoken about a lot about his consistency, but I think that undersells him [and] what he does. He's really skilful with the new ball, but once you get a reversing ball, he's just as skilful; he can swing it both ways,” Pat Cummins said.Like on Mulder’s wicket, Hazlewood deliberately ran in with the ball concealed, avoiding any last-moment hints to the batter about the shiny side in conditions conducive to reverse swing. Then came the delivery with a tilted seam, moving just enough to evade the bat and take the faintest of edges.As relentless as Hazlewood is, he is also smart and skilled enough to adjust his lengths and pace to maximise the conditions. Under gloomy skies early in the Test, he started fuller to extract maximum movement in the air. His average length of 6.82 metres late on Day 2 and early on Day 3 was his fullest spell of the first innings.In Durban, the bowlers had to make the most of the new ball before the conditions eased. Hazlewood gave himself the best chance of wickets upfront. But as he returned for later spells and the early movement subsided, the Australian quick focused on bending his back to bowl shorter and quicker, making full use of uneven bounce.ALSO READJosh Hazlewood Enters History Books With 5-Wicket Haul vs South AfricaThen came a bowling masterclass on the final day. By now, the pitch had dried out completely under the blazing sun, while the dry air kept the ball’s rough patches abrasive. There was every chance of extracting reverse swing.Josh Hazlewood went fuller again and slowed his pace to get more reverse in his first spell on Day 5. His average length of 6.59 metres was his fullest of the match. The rewards did not come immediately, but he persisted with the approach, at times to the point of overpitching.In his next spell, he finally got his reward, dismissing Mulder with a delivery that culminated a plan meticulously laid out when a breakthrough seemed unlikely. His average speed of 133.47 km/h during this short stint was the lowest among all his spells, wherever data is available. He was relentless, yes. But there was a whole lot of skill behind this relentlessness, too.The sheer skill behind Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer’s dismissalJosh Hazlewood's average speed and length in DurbanMarco Jansen had started to look threatening again, racing away to 35 after Wiaan Mulder’s dismissal. Once Australia took the second new ball, Hazlewood extracted more seam movement from similar lengths. He got one to nip back off a good-length wobble-seam delivery and crash through Jansen’s defence.There wasn’t much of a gap between bat and pad, as Jansen was still playing the line. His only fault, perhaps, was having to face Josh Hazlewood. He was so good that he landed the ball in just the right spot and extracted just enough movement to force Jansen onto the wrong line and pierce the bat-pad gap.FanCode @FanCode Hazlegod turned the game around when it mattered most 😎🔥 Watch all the action from Australia’s Tour of South Africa only on FanCode 📲 #SAvAUS Oct 13, 2026, 7:02 PM There wasn’t much Simon Harmer could have done either, other than hope to get out unscathed. Hazlewood went shorter than he had against Jansen and again got one to nip back, this time with a sudden lift off the pitch. Harmer tried his best to get his glove out of the way but couldn’t, as the ball kept climbing into him.In a way, Harmer might consider himself lucky to have got some glove on it, even if that ultimately cost him his wicket. Otherwise, the ball could have struck him on the head. On a delivery that venomous, getting out was arguably not the worst possible outcome.It was fitting, then, that Hazlewood wrapped up the innings against South Africa by removing Anrich Nortje. Again, he cramped the batter for room with a length directed into the body, leaving Nortje little room to free his arms.FanCode @FanCode Hazlewood gets the job done for Australia as they win by a margin of 214 runs 😎 #SAvAUS #TestCricket #Australia Oct 13, 2026, 5:01 PM Being a No.11, he could hardly be blamed for mistiming the pull, given that even the recognised batters would have struggled to handle it. In the process, Nortje got a taste of his own medicine, having exploited the shorter lengths throughout the game himself.Hazlewood keeps marching on with his skillsThere has been a certain disregard for Josh Hazlewood in recent times. His persistent injury issues and inability to play regularly have often been held against him. Then there’s Scott Boland, whose performances put pressure on the regulars every time he is left out.Hazlewood and Boland are more or less equally accurate. But Hazlewood offers much more variety in how he uses that accuracy.ALSO READUpdated WTC Points Table After Australia Defeat South Africa In 1st Test 2026He shifts lengths more adeptly with each spell, combines the wobble and canted seam intelligently, and uses his higher release point to extract steep bounce. He is particularly threatening on surfaces like Durban, where his ability to impart substantial backspin helps him control the swing and get the ball to skid through the surface.Australia know exactly what they get by sticking with an ageing, injury-prone Hazlewood. Whenever he plays, he offers quality and the promise of breakthroughs. He has been so good that even repeated injury breaks have done little to disrupt his consistency.Since 2024, Hazlewood has taken 67 wickets at an average of 14.83 across 27 Test innings, including five five-wicket hauls. Among bowlers with at least 50 wickets in this period, nobody has a better average. His strike rate of 33.2 balls per wicket is also the third-best, behind Noman Ali (31.4) and Matt Henry (31.5).cricket.com.au @cricketcomau Josh Hazlewood strung together 24 consecutive dots in his post-tea spell - and it included the BIG wicket of Babar Azam! 🔥 #AUSvPAK Dec 29, 2023, 11:11 AM Fittingly, Hazlewood produced his career-best figures in Durban, this late in his career at 35. Few bowlers can do what he’s doing at this age, and fewer still after so many injury issues.He may still break down midway through a game and require careful workload management through a gruelling Test schedule. But Australia will take a vulnerable Hazlewood every time. They know he offers far more than accuracy and relentlessness, whatever the conditionsALSO READAustralia Plans New Role For Matt Renshaw, Reveals Pat Cummins