The Australian cricket team suffered a major injury blow ahead of the second Ashes Test here from December 16 as star pace bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the pink-ball game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The seamer took three wickets in Australia's dominating nine-wicket win against Joe Root's England in the opening Ashes Test at Brisbane. The tall pacer currently sits third on the ICC Test bowling rankings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hazlewood had suffered a side strain during the first Test.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Hazlewood returned to Sydney on Sunday afternoon for further assessment and rehabilitation with a decision on his fitness for the Boxing Day Test (Melbourne, December 26) to be made in due course, icc-cricket.com reported.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
His likely replacement at Adelaide Oval will be one of Jhye Richardson or Michael Neser, with Richardson hoping to play his first Test in nearly three years and Neser eying a debut in the format.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
For Australia, losing Hazlewood's services is a big blow as he has scalped 32 wickets at an average of 19.90 in pink-ball Tests. In last summer's pink-ball Test against India, Hazlewood was the chief architect of India being shot out for 36 in the second innings, picking 5\/8 in just five overs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n