How Scott Boland went from the hunted to the hunter vs England as he played a huge role in retaining the Ashes.
Boland was an England target, but he flipped the script and how.
As predicted, England crushed Scott Boland to 62 runs in 10 overs on the first day of the Ashes in Perth.
At the SCG, Boland gave Joe Root, the second-highest run scorer in Test cricket history, a 24-ball masterpiece. Root failed to score a run off Boland before being trapped leg before wicket.
There was always going to be a Bazball referendum at the Ashes. However, it was also presented as a referendum on Australia’s ageing team, with Boland at its core.
The 36-year-old Boland was considered the Ringo Starr of Australia’s fast bowling Beatles in England, despite his vulnerable batting. As he had been when he recorded figures of 2 for 231 from 47 overs in two Tests during the 2023 Ashes in England, Pat Cummins’ injury was expected to expose him to the full fury of Bazball’s hitters.
Boland’s claim that he had no concerns about England’s hitters was not untrue. The information coming from England’s camp was that they actually did not rate him, despite what had transpired in the 2021–22 Ashes. They saw him as the embodiment of all that was wrong with the county game: a gun-barrel seam-up at 135 kph that had to be replaced.
However, anyone who has ever dealt with Boland in Australia is aware that this is untrue. Boland was the “toughest to face” in the Border Gavaskar Trophy last year, according to former India captain Rohit Sharma. After being lulled into a false sense of security on the first day of the series, England had to learn the hard way.
Boland’s first performance was equally the fault of coach Andrew McDonald. He gift wrapped a stack of half-volleys while looking for the stumps with the new ball, so England did not hit him off a length as frequently.
The recalibration was exceptionally quick. One may argue that Australia won the Ashes thanks to Boland’s performance after lunch on the second day in Perth. England had a commanding lead, but Mitchell’s seven wickets of Starc on the first day had set the tone. There was still Travis Head’s incredible century to come. However, without what Boland accomplished, it might not have occurred.
Alex Carey’s outstanding wicketkeeping will always be associated with Boland’s success in these Ashes. McDonald had proposed this strategy as early as the 2023 Ashes, and his ability to keep up with Boland kept England’s batters stranded on the crease.
However, neither of Boland’s three crucial wickets in Brisbane nor any of his four wickets in Perth occurred with Carey up. Ben Duckett nicked a straight ball to second slip when squaring up in Perth because he believed he had covered it from over the wicket. Ollie Pope snatched the ball behind because he believed he was driving a straight ball on the up. Harry Brook felt the same way and had similar thoughts.
For good reason, this will be known as Starc and Head’s Ashes. Boland’s 20 wickets at 24.95 won’t go unnoticed. However, at the age of 36, he participated in all five Test matches for the first time in his career and bowled 6.4 more overs than Starc for either team during the series.
Without Ringo’s unwavering beat, the Beatles wouldn’t be the Beatles. Boland defeated Bazball’s sceptics in this manner.