Josh Hazlewood sends out warning to England's top batters ahead of the Ashes

Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood has sent out a warning to his fellow counterparts saying if England’s mainstays don’t fire then it will be a disaster for them. The England squad led by Joe Root arrived in Perth on Sunday, and the same day pace spearhead Mitchell Starc bagged his career best figures of 8/73 in the Australian domestic competition.

The visitors are without the service of all-rounder Ben Stokes and to witness Starc sending out those rippers in the day-night Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide with the pink ball won’t have any calming effect on the team. Australia’s batting hasn’t promised much of late but their bowling has been impressive. Hazlewood counter-attacked the Three Lions by stressing on their in-experience batting line up.

Hazlewood eyes English batters

”If you get him (Root), Alastair Cook and Jonny Bairstow, who have been scoring runs the last few years, it places extra pressure on the inexperienced guys even more so,” Hazlewood told Fairfax Media.”If we get the wood on them hopefully the rest fall in line.”

Apart from skipper Root, Cook and Bairstow, no other Englishmen in the squad have played a Test match down-under. Root being their top batsman, will have to shoulder a lot more than just calling the shots in the field. “He’s a pretty good all-round player, you don’t get to the top couple for no reason,” Hazlewood said. “He seems to be scoring quicker at the moment as well, at 80 strike-rate, the last 12 months.”

Starc raring to go

Starc, on the other hand, sounded confident of a successful return to the big series. “He’s definitely getting on with it so hopefully that gives us an extra couple of opportunities. He’s got a pretty well-rounded game at the moment. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a four-day fixture so it was nice to get some overs under the belt (37.4 for the game) and get ready for that first Test,” a fit-again Starc said on Sunday.”The ball swung and nipped a little bit and I managed to get it to move both ways and find a way to get a few wickets.”