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Josh Hazlewood Achieves Massive Feat With Fifer Vs West Indies; Surpasses Mitch Johnson

Anurag Dasgupta

Hazlewood surpasses Johnson [Source: AP Photo] Hazlewood surpasses Johnson [Source: AP Photo]

Josh Hazlewood showed his class in the first Test vs West Indies as the champion seamer picked up a five-wicket haul in the second innings to demolish the home side. Set 301 runs to win, the Windies were never really in the hunt as Hazlewood proved his worth and claimed his 13th fifer to seal Australia's win.

On a surface that had something for the fast bowlers, the right-arm seamer exploited the conditions to his advantage and ran through the West Indies batters to bundle them out for a paltry 141, thus winning the game by 159 runs. With this fifer, Hazlewood also created history and went past his critic in the five-wicket haul tally.

Hazlewood surpasses Mitch Johnson in five-wicket haul tally

Before the start of the Test series, Hazlewood had 12 five-wicket hauls in red-ball cricket, the same as Mitch Johnson. However, with his heroics in the second innings, the lanky pacer overtook the former Aussie cricketer and now has 13 fifers in Tests. He has achieved the feat in 74 Test matches, while Johnson had 12 fifers in 73 games.

In 74 red-ball matches, Hazlewood has accumulated 288 wickets, at an average of 24.39.

The recent tussle between Hazlewood and Johnson

Recently, Hazlewood was criticises by Johnson for prioritising IPL over Test cricket. The Aussie represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL. Despite the World Test Championship (WTC) final nearing, Hazlewood went to India and played in the IPL Qualifier and the finale as his team won the tournament.

However, he was not at his best during the WTC final as the Proteas sealed their second-ever ICC title. After the finale, Johnson criticised Hazlewood for ignoring Test cricket.

“We’ve seen concerns about Hazlewood’s fitness in recent years, and his decision to prioritise returning to the delayed Indian Premier League over his national team preparations raised eyebrows, Johnson wrote in his column for West Australian.

However, the 34-year-old seamer responded back with a match-winning fifer which gave Australia their first win in WTC cycle 2025-27.