Josh Hazlewood in Tamworth for Bush Summit and R & R

The cricket star was in the area to catch up with family and friends, after a gruelling Ashes tour, and to speak at the Bush Summit in Tamworth. He also donated solar panels that were installed on Cricket House on Carter Street as part of the Cricket for Climate initiative.

Hazlewood - who spoke to the media outside Cricket House - will have most of this month off, before joining the Australian squad in South African and then travelling to India for a tour that will include the World Cup.

Presumably, the Bendemeer Bullet will spend most of that downtime at his Hunters Hill home on Sydney's north shore. He shares the home with his wife, Cherina, whom he wed in the Hunter Valley in August last year.

The couple began dating when they both attended Oxley High.

"It's been fine,"Hazlewood said of married life. "It's the usual, I guess. I'm always away."

At the 32-year-old's wedding on a picturesque estate, his Oxley High schoolmates mingled with cricket internationals such Australian captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head.

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Hazlewood said playing cricket with his school friends while growing up was "a real treat".

"You're playing for Australia now," he said, "and you're playing with a bunch of guys who you're relatively close with, and some really good friends in there.

"But to grow up with your close mates and play sport with them and have some good times, that's what sport's all about. And there's a lot of that in the country."

The boy became the man. And the man became one of Australia's greatest ever wicket-takers, a stand-in captain of the country's one-day team and a Test vice-captain.

Now a 63-Test veteran, Hazlewood joked that living at Hunters Hill made him and his wife "feel pretty young".

"The average age is probably 70," he said, adding: "No, it's good, it's good - nice and quiet. We're not there very much."

As for Bendemeer's "Hometown of Josh Hazlewood" sign, the man called Hoff said that while "it's great to have some people who are really proud of you", he was "sort of one to always be in the background and not jump out in front of the cameras".

"Still getting used to it, I think," he said of the sign, which was stolen last year before being returned following public outrage.

"I had to fix him [the thief] up for doing that, actually," Hazlewood joked, in reference to the sign being pinched.

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