Batsmen take blame for bowler fatigue: Nevill

Wicketkeeper Peter Nevill has a clear idea of how Australia could have managed their pacemen better in the first Commonwealth Bank Test against South Africa: bat longer.

The workloads of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood spiked at the WACA Ground, where they delivered a total of 103.4 overs, while Peter Siddle suffered a fresh back injury in the match.

Cricket Australia has admitted Starc and Hazlewood are now at greater risk of breaking down in the second Test, which starts in Hobart on Saturday.

Siddle, who has been ruled out of the second Test, is waiting on a second round of scans to assess how bad his setback is.

The three quicks suffered not just because of the sheer quantity of their overs but the fact they bowled on each of the opening four days of the contest.

It means a first-innings collapse of 10-86 may have cost Australia more than just victory in the three-Test series opener.

"It's tough on the fast bowlers when the batsmen don't bat for that long a period," Nevill told Sky Sports Radio.

"They don't get as much time to put their feet up as they would like ... but there was no complaining from their end.

"Hopefully at this Test match we give the bowlers a lot more time to put their feet up."

Team physio David Beakley admitted it was far from ideal for Starc, Hazlewood and Siddle to be denied a decent break between innings.

"That's a problem. Ideally you don't like to see them bowling that much consecutively," Beakley said. "Any breaks are gold when you're bowling those sort of numbers."

Beakley and team doctor Peter Brukner defended Cricket Australia's approach to managing bowlers on Thursday, with the latter noting Pat Cummins, James Pattinson, Starc and Hazlewood should be over the worst of their recurring injury woes.

"They're all getting to that stage now where they should be past that danger age," Brukner said.

"There should be significantly reduced risk of having those bone stress injuries. They're not totally out of it because if you work them hard enough everyone is going to break. Certainly the likelihood is much less."

Cummins and Pattinson are on the comeback from serious injuries and are not expected to feature in the first half of the Sheffield Shield season.

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