BREAKING: Aussie World Cup camp dealt huge blow in shock 15-year nightmare

Star seamer Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup, with the Australians now missing two frontline pace bowlers in a brutal blow.

Pat Cummins has already been ruled out due to an ongoing back injury, and Cricket Australia confirmed on Friday Hazlewood will now join him.

It’s the first time Australia will enter a World Cup without one of their big three — Mitchell Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood — since 2011.

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Hazlewood was initially in line to travel to Sri Lanka with Nathan Ellis, Glenn Maxwell and Tim David, but instead will remain in Sydney.

That trio remained in Australia and missed out on a disappointing 3-0 series loss to Pakistan, but will meet with the World Cup squad ahead of their first match against Ireland in Colombo on February 11.

Hazlewood has been battling with a hamstring injury suffered during a Sheffield Shield clash in November as well as an ACL blow.

“We were hopeful Josh would be back to match fitness by the Super Eights stage but the latest indications (are) he is still some time away,” selector Tony Dodemaide said in a statement.

“Trying to accelerate his program will carry too much of a risk.

“We will not be naming a replacement player immediately. We feel we are well covered for the initial game so will make any later decisions based on priority need at the time.”

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Sean Abbott will serve as a travelling reserve, and according to the statement, could be added to the squad as Hazlewood’s replacement late in the tournament.

Without Cummins and Hazlewood, Ellis, Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis will shoulder the pace bowling loads.

Ellis is “tracking well” from his hamstring injury, but is unlikely to be fit for Australia’s first clash.

Adam Zampa, meanwhile, has been declared fit while David will also return in the group stages.

According to skipper Mitchell Marsh, the Aussies could look to deploy a spin-heavy line-up in the subcontinental conditions.

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“We’ve been able to build a lot of depth within our squad, and the guys that have come in have played a lot of cricket for our group,” Marsh said.

“So we’ve got a lot of confidence in them to go out there and do the job when required and then we’ll just pick teams based on the conditions.

“Matthew Kuhnemann has been great for us. We’ve also got Adam Zampa and then we’ve got a few spinning allrounders, like most teams will. So I think we’ve got all bases covered and now it’s just about getting stuck into it.”

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