&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Josh Hazlewood expects South Africa sledging, insists Aussies won't be fazed")
Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood says the hostile South African crowd won't affect him much on the upcoming tour, including three ODIs and as many Tests. With the Aussies returning to South Africa for the first time since the sandpaper gate in 2018, Hazlewood expects the Proteas crowd to come down hard on him and the players fielding near the boundary lines. Having toured England and New Zealand, where the home fans usually love sledging the mighty Aussies, Hazlewood warned that Australian players won’t be fazed this time.
Although Australia toured South Africa for the ODI series in 2020 and 2023, the stakes are expected to be higher this time.
Hazlewood was one of the five players who featured in the infamous Cape Town Test, where stalwarts including David Warner and Steve Smith were among those handed one-year bans. With Hazlewood and Smith likely to be picked for the Test series, starting in Durban, and Newlands hosting the third Test, the Aussie quick said tackling crowd abuse is unlikely to be part of discussions in the lead-up.
"I don't think we'll talk about it, no," Hazlewood said at a launch of Play Cricket week on Monday. "I tend to put New Zealand and South Africa a bit in the same boat. We cop a lot in England as well, so pretty much every away game we cop it a fair bit.
"I'm used to everything at fine leg. The guys out in the slips don't hear too much, so it's probably more the guys fielding on the boundary and different things.
Trending Stories
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
How fast can the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet really fly?
)
Did China ask its people 'not to respond to aliens'? Origin of bizarre claim on social media
)
MS Dhoni-CSK Fallout? Report claims failed stake sale talks triggered rift
)
Scientists reveal the SAFEST COUNTRY when catastrophe strikes the planet
)
Serial killer on the loose in South Korea's Jeju Island? Fourth body found in three days as more than a dozen people go missing
)
2/3rd of glacier detached, collapsed: ISRO satellite images reveal what triggered Nepal floods
)
Trump once again claims without him there would be ‘no Israel right now’
)
Foreign espionage attacks against German companies surge to 37%, Bitkom report reveals
)
Blake Lively wins partial legal fee from Justin Baldoni after $8M request
)
Why is Pakistan deploying Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones near India border?
)
'OH MY GOD! We've found other agents!': Investigators discover not one or two, almost 700 OpenAI AI agents went rogue, hacked Hugging Face
)
Lunar eclipse 2026: India timings, places to see and more. August Blood moon factsheet
)
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on global outreach tour
)
Both pilots killed as training aircraft crashes in Lucknow – What we know
)
16-year-old charged with preparing terror attack on kindergarten in Norway
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
How the S-400 protects itself from enemy attacks
)
Nepal floods: Over 165 dead, 400 missing; US, India, China, World Bank mobilise aid
)
India's multi-layered watch: The new surveillance war
)
5 doomsday planes spotted in US skies hours after CIA director's secret trip to Russia
)
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to finally face trial in 2028, nearly 27 years after horrific attacks
)
Islamabad hospital fire: What we know about one of the biggest facility that housed Imran Khan
)
Workers run for life while filming Nepal flash flood: Scary new visuals emerge from Rasuwa
)
Russian military planes enter South Korean air defence zone amid rising tensions with North Korea: What's happening
)
Ron Weasley Is Back! Rupert Grint set to return to Harry Potter universe on Broadway
)
400-year-old 'vampire' grave in Poland reveals non-existent genetic lineage
)
Dolly Parton, global icon and queen of country music, dies at 80
)
Nepal flash floods: Kailash Mansarovar yatra affected, close to 400 pilgrims out of contact
)
'If he is dead, they're putting on a pretty good show': Trump casts fresh doubt over Mojtaba Khamenei's fate
)
Man arrested near US Capitol with guillotine in pickup truck: What happened?
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
Why the Su-30MKI cockpit is painted bright turquoise green
"It'll be fine,” he continued.
Hazlewood wants to play more cricket
Recently returning to Test cricket during the Bangladesh series after being out for a considerable period since suffering a right hamstring strain that ruled him out of the home Ashes, Hazlewood aims to maintain his fitness and make himself available for as many matches as possible.
The 35-year-old is expected to be picked in the ODI squad for the South Africa and Zimbabwe series to be announced on Tuesday.
"I think still the best way forward for me is to play as much as I can, in reason. Once you're at that intensity, which we're all at now, it's trying to maintain that," Hazlewood said.
Meanwhile, after the three-match ODI series, Australia will also play a two-day warm-up fixture against South Africa A ahead of the first Test, which begins on October 9.
