Hazlewood backs stand-in captaincy team

Josh Hazlewood claims Australia's rotating captaincy model can work in white-ball cricket as officials forge ahead with ways to manage Pat Cummins' busy workload.

Hazlewood helped lead Australia to an unassailable 2-0 ODI series lead over England on Saturday night, just hours after earing the status of the team's 28th ODI captain with Cummins rested in Sydney.

The scenario is one likely to play out several times over the next year, as selectors desperately try and manage a chaotic workload that includes more than 100 days of international cricket.

Under the system, Australia plan to rotate the captaincy around the likes of Hazlewood, Saturday's vice-captain Steve Smith, and Alex Carey, all of whom have led the country before.

David Warner could also be an option if his lifetime leadership ban is lifted in a looming appeal.

Hazlewood said he would be happy to be named as captain again next time Cummins is out, but said duties would be shared around. 

"I certainly think it's a good way, it's a new age of moving forward," Hazlewood said. 

"And if you look at the schedule, it demands that option of a number of people doing the business. 

"A Test match is a different story: You need the one captain there and it's his team. 

"Whereas the one-dayers and T20s you've often got a different-looking group and a different-looking senior group.

"So I think it's a good model and it's working so far."

A similar model could eventually be likely in Twenty20 cricket, where skipper Aaron Finch is weighing up his future and whether he wants to play on.

Hazlewood has not led a side since his junior days in school cricket, but said the way Australia's white-ball team had been managed meant it was set up for collaborative captaincy.

"I felt that tonight and Pat is a bit more experienced in the captaincy and I am sure he feels that as well," Hazlewood said.

"There are three or four players you can turn to on the field that are sitting in the strategy meetings.

"You've obviously got (Alex Carey) there, quite an experienced keeper to do all the angles with the field and different things. 

"And the two spinners have played a lot of cricket. They know their fields so I stayed out of their way as best I could."

Greater depth in captaincy experience could also be of benefit at next year's one-day World Cup, where Australia could play only two of Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc on Indian wickets.

If that was the case, Australia could face the prospect of entering some matches without Cummins.