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“Yeah …” a wry grin passes across Scott Boland’s face as he’s reminded of the moment he thought he’d broken England’s back in the Leeds Ashes Test.
In the first hour on day two, he had a very adjacent lbw appeal against captain Ben Stokes turned down by umpire Kumar Dharmasena. Stokes had just 10 and England were 5-97. As Boland and his teammates huddled and awaited the DRS verdict, there was confidence from Alex Carey.
Scott Boland thinks he’s got Ben Stokes lbw at Leeds.Credit: Getty
“‘Kez’ thought it was really good and he’s a pretty good judge – if he thinks it’s close it is generally really close,” Boland says. “I thought it was going to be really close on where it hit him. I knew it was hitting the stumps, but he sort of came at me.
“I was just praying it went the other way and it didn’t. Looking back on it, he made 80-odd and put on some good runs with the lower order. There’s so many things in the series that could’ve changed, so yeah … umpire’s call…” Boland trails off, much as Australia did as the series finished 2-2.
Eighteen months earlier, a similarly tight lbw call had gone Boland’s way against Jonny Bairstow to start Boland’s run of 4-0 in 11 balls on an unforgettable final morning at the MCG. It had ended in Boland’s acceptance of the Johnny Mullagh Medal, not only as player of the match, but also as a proud Gulidjan man.
On that occasion, the Bairstow ball had been umpire’s call for both impact on the pad and projection to hit the stumps – Stokes’ reprieve had been knocking out middle stump. The big difference was where Bairstow had been – right back in his crease – and how far forward Stokes had got as he advanced towards Boland.
That contrast is a key to how differently Boland fared in this year’s Ashes, the first time in Test matches where he had been significantly challenged: two wickets at 115.5 and an economy rate of 4.91 in his two matches as England’s batters went out to meet him.
Jonny Bairstow, back in his crease, was lbw to Scott Boland in 2021, but Ben Stokes escaped by coming forward this year.Credit: Twitter
“We looked at the data of where they were hitting the ball against me, and it was only really [Zak] Crawley who was way out in front a lot of the time, and Joe Root, who kept walking at me in the first Test,” Boland says. “So I did try to bowl a few more bouncers to Root to keep him at home, and I think after doing that he did stay back a bit more and Pat [Cummins] got him both times in that third Test.
“Bowling more bouncers is one of the things I can do to keep them in the crease, and I think generally I’m pretty good at running the ball back [towards the stumps], so they knew how I wanted to bowl in pretty flat conditions and they tried to combat that. Not something I’d experienced at such a high rate before.”
Something else Boland felt, especially at Edgbaston, was a sensation he had not felt for quite a few years. Namely the frustration of not being able to put the ball exactly where he wanted to. Given that sheer consistency had been part of what put him in the Test team, it was as uncomfortable as anything yelled from the Hollies Stand.
“I felt like I had a pretty good prep, bowled really well in the Test Championship, had a bit of an off game in the first Test, where I just didn’t feel I could get the ball where I wanted it to go. And I hadn’t really felt like that in two or three years.”
Quite a contrast to the World Test Championship final against India, where Boland had the ball on the same string he had seemingly carried through most of the previous year or more. His defeat of Virat Kohli on the final day had effectively sealed the title for Australia, but Boland can now see it was the way England played him that may become more commonplace.
“The best thing about sitting down after a series is that you can review it and not be too emotional about it,” Boland says. “I’ve sat down and had some good chats with ‘Ronnie’ [coach Andrew McDonald] about how we can try to keep the batter more at home, keep them where I want them to be, instead of them coming at me all the time.
“I think even in Shield cricket, individual players might see the way that England have played and want to play that sort of style. For us we’ve got Matt Short who’s been on fire the last 12 months and plays a pretty up-tempo brand of game. He hits decent balls for four.
Scott Boland signs an autograph at Junction Oval during Victoria’s opening game.Credit: Getty
“It’d be nice to test my skills against the best batters in the world – that’s the marker for us, when we’re playing against those players on flattish wickets.”
As the Australian white-ball team limbers up for the World Cup in India, to close out a year of seemingly never-ending tours, Boland is at home with Victoria, setting off on a summer where he remains the fourth ranked seam bowler in the eyes of the selectors.
An immaculate spell of 2-32 against Tasmania in Victoria’s opening limited overs game provided a reminder that Boland’s engine is revving nicely for the home season. He says that Spring training feels different, less of a chore, than a year ago.
He is conscious, too, of the cricket landscape changing through the increasing proliferation of big money Twenty20 leagues. For now, though, Boland remains confident in the ambitions of all players – not just his 30-something generation – to keep Tests at the forefront of their minds and their hearts.
“We spoke the other day in a meeting about how everyone that’s in our squad still wants to play Test cricket,” Boland says. “That hasn’t changed from when I was 20 years old. Coming off after a Test match or Shield game with a win, after you’ve worked your arse off for four or five days, is still the most satisfying feeling.”
As for his own future, Boland feels a young 34, although he stops short of aiming to make the next Ashes tour in four years’ time.
“I still think I’ve got some improvement in me,” he says. “Four years is a long time when I’m 34, but if I can keep putting in good performances, I want to keep playing Test cricket and Shield cricket for as long as I can.”
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