Pain, then elation begin Josh's Test journey

As an exponent of the most gruelling craft in the world’s longest-haul sport, Josh Hazlewood knew that Test cricket would tax him in ways not before experienced.

But even though his 23-year-old body has endured and recovered from more than its share of duress since he started in senior cricket at age 17, nothing had prepared him for the crippling pain he was to endure on his first day as a Test bowler.

A cocktail of pre-debut anxiety, the sapping humidity of a fierce Brisbane summer day and the added responsibility piled on his young shoulders as his fellow quicks fell around him, Hazlewood suddenly realised he was battling to put a foot right.

Or more accurately, come the final session of a day that Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane compared unfavourably to enervating afternoons in Chennai or Mumbai, he could not land either foot without fear of another muscle cramp taking grip.

“I’ve never experienced cramps like that before and (Bupa Support Team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris) thought maybe a bit of tension in the morning, being a bit nervous might have contributed to that,” Hazlewood revealed this evening.

“It was pretty painful at the time.

“Obviously the physio room was a bit of a casualty ward last night.”

Come yesterday’s final hour or so, Mitchell Marsh was out of action with a hamstring twinge, Mitchell Starc was laid low by heat stress and then a nagging pain in his back and side and Mitchell Johnson was struggling to string together more than two consecutive overs as he sweltered.

So Hazlewood, the new boy in the line-up, kept pushing himself on despite the unsubtle warnings being sent by a number of sources.

His hips. His hamstrings. His calves. His toes.

As soon as one would be massaged and stretched out, another would seize somewhere else.

Eventually, after his follow-through saw him land in another undignified pile mid-pitch and with four deliveries of his 16th over of the day still to be bowled, Hazlewood succumbed to nature and to expert medical advice and headed for the comparative comfort of the dressing room.

Where an ice bath and electrolyte-laden sports drinks offered the prospect of eventual respite, if not immediate relief.

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Hazlewood was the pick of Australia's bowlers in his debut Test innings // Getty Images

That the country kid with a talent for field events including shot put and javelin throwing – who was identified as a future Australian quick before he completed his schooling – was able to make it back to the bowling crease for the start of his second day as a Test bowler says much about his resolve.

That he not only turned up but turned it on, becoming the first Australian bowler since Nathan Lyon in similarly sauna-like conditions in Sri Lanka three years ago to snare five wickets bowling in his maiden Test innings, says even more about his future.

As ever, considering his tall, lean physique, preference for measured control over raw pace and his uncomplicated nature that speaks of his upbringing in rural Tamworth, Hazlewood will be compared to Glenn McGrath from whom he received his Baggy Green Cap yesterday.

Considering that McGrath was only a couple of months younger than Hazlewood is now when he first pulled on the cap against New Zealand in Perth in 1993, the notion that their careers might indeed follow similar paths is not altogether fanciful.

After all, McGrath’s name does not sit alongside those of Lyon, Brett Lee, Rodney Hogg, Bob Massie, Dennis Lillee and Clarrie Grimmett as having grabbed a five-wicket haul in their first Test outing for their country.

McGrath finished his first Test with three scalps, and a spent body having sent down more than 50 overs at the WACA.

He ended his 13-year career with 563 and probably no more aches and gripes than Hazlewood took with him into the physio’s room last night.

Hazlewood is no stranger to treatment and rehabilitation, having been diagnosed and overcome the inevitable injury setbacks that plague young men who insist on putting through their developing bodies through the most unnatural act of bowling a cricket ball at speed.

They include stress fractures in the back, in the feet and the long-term deterioration of ankle and knee joints due to the incessant, unrelenting impact.

But above all those potential physiological flash points, Hazlewood maintains perhaps the most vital anatomical asset – a level head.

He learned from the first day on the job to bowl a slightly fuller length and a tighter, ‘fourth stump’ line and was rewarded with an indelible place in Australia’s cricket history.

And while his on-field exploits will increasingly come to speak for themselves if his first two days are a pointer, he has clearly also learned to echo the wisdom of those who have trodden the path before.

In this case not so much McGrath as Australia’s most successful bowler, Shane Warne, whose mantra of “they’re coming out better than ever” was as regular and as vehement as his annual declaration of a new ‘mystery ball’.

“It gives me massive confidence even though it was with the white ball and only playing the one Shield game this year coming into this match,” he said this evening when asked what his debut spell meant for his future even though he was under-done with red-ball cricket preparation leading into it.

“But the ball felt like it was coming out as well as it ever has and now to put a performance like that on the board in a Test match is very good for the confidence.”