Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have delivered a timely reminder of their potent new-ball pairing on day one of Australia's Ashes tour game in Worcester, where the overlooked pacemen also earned praise for their response to selection snubs.
Travis Head posted an unbeaten century in a productive return to his old stomping ground, while Hazlewood snared two wickets as Worcestershire crashed to 3-31 at stumps on Wednesday.
Once automatic selections, Mitchell Starc (left) and Josh Hazlewood are now trying to break into a winning team.Credit:AAP
Head, facing the county outfit he represented in 2018, warmed up for the second Test by top-scoring with 109 not out as Australia declared at 5-266.
Hazlewood and Starc, keen to impress as selectors mull whether to rejig Australia's attack for the Lord's clash with England that starts on August 14, both needed exactly five deliveries to find their first wicket.
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Starc trapped Tom Fell lbw for a duck.
Joshua Dell, whose stumps were skittled by Hazlewood, also failed to get off the mark.
The right-armer would have been on a hat-trick in his first over if Cameron Bancroft held a low slips catch to dismiss Jack Haynes.
Hazlewood removed Haynes soon after and finished the day with figures of 2-2 from four overs, impressing a crowd that included chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns.
It was the superstars' first game since being on drinks duty during the first Test at Edgbaston.
"They've been normal around the team, been awesome. As expected, they're both great blokes," Usman Khawaja said.
"It says a lot about our team that two guys who have been in the team for so long and played a lot of cricket, they get left out and they don't carry on. Just go about their business.
"They're two world-class bowlers. We obviously have a lot of depth at the moment to have two guys of that calibre sitting out."
Khawaja noted both quicks created plenty of headaches for a Worcestershire top order that included Callum Ferguson, who played one Test for Australia in 2016.
"They just hit that length beautifully," Khawaja said, having scored 57 during a 101-run stand with Head. "They bowled pretty well didn't they?"
Justin Langer suggested after Australia's series-opening win over England that the Lord's pitch would ultimately determine whether Hazlewood or Starc are recalled next week.
Australia's top six is far more settled.
Marnus Labuschagne and Mitch Marsh, whose hopes of batting at No.6 during the five-Test series took a big blow when Matthew Wade scored his century at Edgbaston, were dismissed for 15 and 13 respectively in Worcester.
Bancroft looked rock solid before falling on 33 late in the opening session of the three-day game, when he misread a delivery from right-armer Josh Tongue that made a mess of the stumps.
Marcus Harris, the only other candidate in the squad to partner David Warner at the top of the order, was bowled on 14 attempting to leave a ball from teenage paceman Adam Finch.
Ferguson will resume on six when day two starts at 8pm AEST on Thursday.
Meanwhile, England's World Cup hero Jofra Archer is set to make his Test debut at Lord's in the injury-enforced absence of Jimmy Anderson but, as Wednesday showed, it will be no like-for-like replacement.
Archer's hopes of facing Australia next week were further boosted by Olly Stone's back injury, which has ruled the paceman out of the second Test.
Archer was already in the box seat, especially after proving his fitness by taking six wickets and hitting a century on the opening day of his red-ball return for Sussex's second XI.
However, Gloucestershire's second string team provided more resistance on day two of the low-key contest at Blackstone academy ground in rural Sussex.
Archer claimed 1-78 from his 19 oRead More – Source
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