Hazlewood completes quartet of promise

Nathan Lyon did it in Sri Lanka, Pat Cummins in South Africa, James Pattinson at the Gabba and now Josh Hazlewood also in Brisbane. A five-wicket haul on Test debut. Lyon has just turned 27, the fast men are all 24 or younger. The thought of those four bowlers forming Australia's Test attack in the years to come is an enticing one.

Hazlewood is the latest addition to the list but could have made his Test debut before the other three, who all debuted in 2011. So highly rated has Hazlewood been since he emerged as a state cricketer that in 2010, at the age of 19, he was picked in Australia's Test squad to tour India. At the time, he had played only six first-class games for 17 wickets at 26.29. His best bowling was 3 for 94.

But he had made his ODI debut in England earlier in the year and his pace and bounce was exciting coaches and selectors. A stress fracture of the back prevented him touring India and it might have been a blessing in disguise; Peter George found on that trip that debuting as a fast bowler in India is tough work.

The Gabba is a friendlier surface on which to debut against India. And four years later, Hazlewood is stronger, faster and much more experienced. Nobody who has watched his development was surprised to see him raise the ball to the crowd to acknowledge a five-wicket haul when he had MS Dhoni caught behind.

Lately when Hazlewood bowls, wickets tumble. Six-for in last summer's Sheffield Shield final. Seven-for in his opening one-day game for New South Wales this season. Five-for in an ODI against South Africa at the WACA last month. Now five-for on Test debut. A lanky young man from near Tamworth in the heart of country music land, Hazlewood is becoming Australian cricket's Slim Trusty.

On the second day at the Gabba, Dhoni and R Ashwin were frustrating the Australians with a seventh-wicket stand that threatened to bat them out of the game. Mitchell Starc especially was struggling. In one over he banged in two bouncers that went so high over Ashwin's head that they were called wides, the second of which had captain Steven Smith shaking his head at slip.

It was no surprise that Smith turned to the reliable Hazlewood for the next over from Starc's end. In his second over, Hazlewood broke the 57-run partnership with a beautiful ball that angled in and swung away just enough to catch Ashwin's edge through to slip, the perfect length to draw him in. In his next over he added Dhoni to his tally.

Earlier, Hazlewood had given Australia the perfect start after their disappointing first day. In the third over of the morning he got rid of Ajinkya Rahane with a lovely delivery that moved away a fraction and touched the edge on the way through to Brad Haddin. Four times in the innings Indian batsmen walked off with c Haddin b Hazlewood next to their names.

On the first day, Hazlewood's wickets had come with shorter balls, a valuable weapon for a man who stands 196 centimetres. But bowling coach Craig McDermott has over the past couple of years helped Hazlewood realise that more wickets will be derived from a fuller length, and so it proved today. Catch the batsman on the crease, and use the bouncer as a change-up to push him back. It's textbook stuff.

The 2010 version of Hazlewood was yet to find that right balance. But he was closely watched by selectors over the coming years, just as he had been since before adulthood. He debuted for New South Wales at 17, but even before that the then Queensland coach Trevor Barsby had tried to lure Hazlewood north to join the Bulls, such was his promise.

This was a boy who was strong enough as a kid to be a national junior star in throwing the javelin, discus and shot put. Take those projectiles out of his hand and stick a cricket ball there in their place and it's no surprise he has had batsmen jumping since his teenage years.

Selectors and coaches were not the only ones who felt Hazlewood was destined for big things. When Hazlewood was 15, a group of his dad's mates each placed $100 bets with British bookmakers that Hazlewood would play Test cricket by the age of 30. The odds they were given were 500-1. That makes a cool $50,000 pay-off for each punter now.

They must have thought their pay-day had come in when he was named in that squad in 2010. Or again when he was called up in the Test series against South Africa in 2012. Perhaps Hazlewood still wasn't ready then - he had 41 first-class wickets at 31.51 - but in years to come people might look back in bemusement at the fact that John Hastings played a WACA Test ahead of Hazlewood.

By 2014, Hazlewood had beefed up and added to his already impressive strength. That in turn helped his pace. At 23 he is still at heart a country boy from the tiny town of Bendemeer. Hazlewood eschews Twitter, unlike many of his team-mates. He looks and acts like a throwback to the 80s or 90s. But he could be a key man for Australia in the 2010s and beyond.

On the eve of his debut, Hazlewood said he was looking forward to playing with the likes of Smith and David Warner. Hopefully they could all play a lot of Test cricket together in the coming years, he said.

As the team walked off at the end of India's innings, led by Hazlewood raising the ball to the crowd, followed by captain Smith, it seemed a tantalising prospect. Add Cummins and Pattinson to the mix along with Hazlewood and Lyon, and Australia's bowling future looks bright. If only the same could be said of the batting.