Boland prepared better for England’s bazball blitzkreig as home Ashes series and extensive prep time beckons.
Boland better prepared for anticipated Bazball blitz in Australia.
After being mercilessly assaulted in his two Test matches during the 2023 series in the UK, Scott Boland feels he is more equipped to handle the hitters from England this summer if he is given the opportunity to play in the Ashes.
After a hat-trick in Jamaica dropped Boland’s average to 16.53, he is now sixth on the all-time list and has the lowest Test bowling average of anyone with more than 50 wickets in the last century.
He only took two wickets at 115.50 in the 2023 Ashes, where he played the two Test matches at Edgbaston and Headingley, but he claimed 18 wickets at 9.55 in his debut Ashes series against a pre-Bazball England team in 2021–2022.
At a Melbourne event on Wednesday that commemorated 100 days until the first Ashes Test in Perth, Boland stated that he is uncertain of how many Test matches he will play this summer because, when healthy, he still lags behind Australia’s top three, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood. However, he feels that if given the opportunity, he is prepared to face any strategy England may use against him.
“I’ve obviously thought about it a lot since it happened in 2023,” Boland said. “But I still think there were times in England where I bowled pretty well and just didn’t get a wicket. I’m a better bowler than I was back then. I’m going to be in our conditions that I know really, really well. I’m hoping to put in some good performances.”
“They’re going to play aggressively,” Boland said. “If the wickets stay similar to what they’ve been over the last few years, I think we’re going to be in the game all the time.
“There were little parts of the England tour last time, when the ball sort of moved around and favoured the bowlers, but generally over there, the wickets have been a bit flatter. And then when you come to Australia, certainly the last three or four years, they’ve been bowler friendly.”
Despite being selected ahead of Nathan Lyon in harsh conditions with a pink Dukes ball at Sabina Park in Jamaica last month, Boland is not expecting to play in a four-pronged pace attack at any point, even though seam bowler-friendly grounds are likely to be available this summer.
Despite not being a confirmed starter in Perth, Boland is uncertain about how many of the first four Sheffield Shield matches he will play before the first Test because talks regarding his playing schedule are still going on between Cricket Victoria and Cricket Australia’s high performance squad.
“It’s changed a couple of times, but I’m sure over the next few weeks we’ll nut it all out,” Boland said. “There’s so much time between game one and game four, I’m hoping to play two or three.”