The Ashes 2017-18: Josh Hazlewood expects Nathan Coulter-Nile to expose England

With less than a month to go for The Ashes 2017-18, both England and Australia players are preparing hard for on-field as well as off-field battle. England will kickoff their Australia tour with a 2-day practice match against Western Australia. Ahead of the clash, pacer Josh Hazlewood has backed Nathan Coulter-Nile to expose England’s batting fragilities ahead of Ashes, starting from November 23. Coulter-Nile, a strong contender for Australia squad, will be the leader in-charge for Western Australia’s faceoff against England.

Mind games, already?

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“I probably see it (Coulter-Nile playing for the WA XI) more as a positive. Maybe he can crack open a few guys early and create a few scars I guess in their top order and middle order. It will be their first real hit-out in Australia … that’s obviously their plan, to jump straight into it on the bounciest and quickest wicket. To have a guy like Coults (Coulter-Nile) there to warm them up and maybe create a few scars would be nice.”

Hazlewood also acknowledged the fact that it would be heartening to bowl alongside two quickies in form of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. He spoke about Starc and Cummins’ ability to instill fear in the opposition camp…

Watchout England…

“That’s why I always bowl when they’re bowling in the nets, I don’t have to face them (Starc and Cummins). On that Gabba wicket, you always want to use it to its advantage. They’re not going to be scared of me or Nathan (Lyon), but the other two bowlers put fear into the batsmen. That’s part of their game, bowling fast and bowling short on occasions. They can take three or four really quick ones and really crack the game wide open.”