Absence Of Steven Smith And David Warner Is A Massive Loss For Young Batsmen - Josh Hazlewood

The absence of a senior batsman will always make it tough for the team, especially, in International cricket. It is the current phase of the Australian team, as they have been knocked down across the formats for their loss of the talented duo David Warner and Steven Smith. Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood explains the impact it created on the youngsters.

Smith and Warner were banned for their roles in last year’s Cape Town ball-tampering scandal. Now, they are eligible for selection again on March 29. It means that they can be called up for the fourth ODI against Pakistan. The comeback of the duo will be a great boost for the team in many ways.

Every time Steve Smith Goes to Bat, he gets a hundred – Josh Hazlewood

Hazlewood believes that having experienced batsman in the side will certainly help the young batsman in many ways. With no real experienced player in the side, Hazlewood revealed that the youngsters have got no choice other than picking the brains of the coaches.

“Every time Steve goes out to bat, he pretty much gets a hundred these days, so the time with the feet up is pretty important [for the fast bowlers],” Hazlewood told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s probably been the first time when you’ve had the top six with no real senior batsmen to feed off, I guess, around training and games, so they [the newcomers] have had to do all their learning from the coaches.”

Young batsmen will really feed off having them back:

Josh Hazlewood believes that stitching partnership with the players like David Warner and Steven Smith will certainly help the youngsters to learn a lot from the middle. He feels that the return of the duo will help the youngsters do the job efficiently for the country.

“It’s just so important to have those couple of senior guys when you bring those couple of young guys into the top six to learn from. You just can’t teach some things as coaches, you have to learn out in the middle batting with a senior person, so I think the other young batters will really feed off having them back,” he added.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear if either of the pairs will be fit to play next month as both top-order batsmen recover from elbow surgeries. According to a report that appeared on the Cricket Australia (CA) website, Smith’s road back to full fitness is more complicated than Warner.