Josh Hazlewood says the challenge of facing Bangladesh is a ‘refreshing’ proposition.
Not much is known about the Bangladesh players and that is exciting for the fast bowler ahead of the Test series next week.
The 34-year-old has faced the Asian nation only nine times across his 15-year international career, with the last three of those games in various white-ball World Cups.
The first Test is in Darwin and the two-Test series present new scenarios that may challenge the Aussies’ tactical preparation.
“There’s a lot of unknowns going in,” Hazlewood told the ‘Unplayable Podcast’. “You’ve got the ground, that’s an unknown. The wicket in particular, (and) the opposition in these conditions. So there are a lot of unknowns, but I think it’s exciting.
“There’s definitely footage and we can find some trends against these batters, but it might be a case of summing it up out there and coming up with plans on the run as well, which is always refreshing.”
Hazlewood, with 295 Test wickets, said the opportunity to create plans on the fly was exciting, but admitted he likes to keep his approach as concise as possible.
“It’s a pretty simple plan (for Test cricket),” Hazlewood said. “It’s just execution and it’s execution for a long period of time. Things might change a little bit out there as the
day goes on or the game goes on, but in general, it’s a pretty simple gameplan a lot of the time.
“You have time to adapt out there. You might be halfway through your first spell
and think, ‘Oh, let’s try this, let’s try that’.
“In T20, you don’t have that time … if you’re a touch off, it’s six.
“The drop-in pitch at Marrara Stadium is likely to play on the slower side, given the baking, dry heat Darwin receives in the winter months. I’m not sure what to expect. It’s not going to be Perth Stadium, day one, or the Gabba.”