![Josh Hazlewood out of Ashes 2025/26 with multiple injuries [Source: @IamRavigupta_/X.com]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1765376070285_Josh_Hazlewood_Australia_England_Ashes_2025.jpg?type=hq)
Josh Hazlewood out of Ashes 2025/26 with multiple injuries [Source: @IamRavigupta_/X.com]
Josh Hazlewood’s Ashes dream is over again. Another injury, another long rehab, another summer spent on the sidelines.
At 35, the Australian fast bowler has now missed 15 of the last 25 home Tests, and suddenly the question nobody wanted to ask is becoming unavoidable: How much longer can he keep doing this?
Josh Hazlewood is one of Australia’s modern greats with nearly 300 Test wickets, match-winning spells across continents, and a reputation for relentless accuracy that once made him the closest thing to Glenn McGrath this generation had.
But the last few years have turned cruel. His body, once reliable, has betrayed him repeatedly with side strains, back niggles, soft-tissue issues, and now a double blow, a hamstring strain and an Achilles problem, that has ruled him out of the entire 2025–26 Ashes.
The pattern is no longer a coincidence. It’s a career trend.
Josh Hazlewood - A champion whose body won’t cooperate
Across five summers, Josh Hazlewood has played just 10 of Australia’s last 20 Tests. For a frontline fast bowler, more than bad luck, it’s unsustainable wear and tear.
His skill hasn’t faded, but his availability has. And in elite sport, being unavailable often matters more than being talented.
This is why his latest setback is prompting conversations that once felt unthinkable: Should Hazlewood retire from Test cricket?
Not because he isn’t good enough. But because he may not be able to survive the format anymore.
Hazlewood’s white-ball success makes the choice clearer
Ironically, Hazlewood’s strongest case for stepping away from Test cricket lies in his white-ball brilliance.
He’s now one of the world’s best T20 bowlers, with 79 wickets at 21.26, a better record than even Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
He was a key figure in Australia’s only T20 World Cup triumph and could be central again in March as Australia attempts to regain the trophy.
In ODIs too, Josh Hazlewood remains a trusted strike bowler. And with Australia defending their World Cup crown in 2027, Hazlewood could still be a major part of that future.
If giving up Tests helps him stay fit for two more white-ball World Cups, the trade-off becomes hard to ignore.
Australia’s Test depth makes the decision easier
This isn’t 2015. Australia are no longer desperate for fast-bowling experience. Behind Pat Cummins and Starc, the next generation is already here in Scott Boland, Michael Neser, Xavier Bartlett, Sean Abbott, and more.
The production line is healthy, and the team has proven they can dominate even without Hazlewood.
Neser’s five-wicket haul at the Gabba and Boland’s consistency have already shown the selectors that life after Josh Hazlewood may not be as scary as once feared.
What Josh Hazlewood must now decide?
The Ashes injury might just be the turning point. Josh Hazlewood doesn’t owe Australian cricket anything more. He’s done it all, from winning World Cups to winning Ashes to leading attacks to mentoring young quicks.
The only thing he hasn’t done in recent years is stay fit long enough to play five Tests in a row.
Maybe that’s the sign.
Retirement from Test cricket isn’t a failure. Sometimes it is the smartest way to protect whatever is left of a career.
Josh Hazlewood still has time to be a world-class white-ball bowler. But trying to juggle all formats is taking a toll that his body is clearly rejecting.
Final verdict
Josh Hazlewood doesn’t need to walk away completely. But prioritising white-ball cricket might be the only way he can continue playing for Australia without more heartbreaking Ashes withdrawals.
For a champion who has nothing left to prove in Tests, this injury might not just be a setback. It might be the start of a new, smarter chapter.
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