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Australia’s cricket fraternity is split on the immediate future of Boxing Day Test hero Scott Boland, a BBL star says he’s willing to answer England’s call and there are fresh calls for Joe Root to stand down.
Boland’s barely conceivable 6-7 on the third and final morning of the Boxing Day test to blow away England for 68 and secure the Ashes.
While The Roar’s columnist Damien Fleming suggested Boland did enough to retain his place for the Sydney Test, others believe he should step aside to let Josh Hazlewood and or Jhye Richardson return.
Mitchell Starc is thought to be in line for rotation out of the squad – a decision he would no doubt resist as he enjoys what his skipper Pat Cummins described as a ‘player of the series’ level performance through the opening three Tests.
Scott Boland claims the inaugural Johnny Mullagh Medal. (Photo by Darrian Traynor – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Former captain Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au that Boland might have played the only Test of his career.
“It’s staggering to think. He’s almost 33, he’s just taken 6-7. Hoff (Hazlewood) has got to come back, Jhye’s probably ahead of him in the pecking order as well,” Ponting said.
“If Hoff’s not available, I think you’ve got to go back to Jhye. In the pecking order of things, he was selected before Boland for Adelaide – I think that’s the fair thing to do.”
Former Test wicketkeeper Brad Haddin also felt Boland will miss out for Sydney.
“I think you’ve still got to pick your best bowlers and if those three (Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc) are fit, then they get picked,” Haddin said on Fox Cricket.
“We’ve seen in the second Test, Richardson was outstanding, Neser was outstanding,
“Richardson came in and got 5fer, Boland got 6fer on this wicket but if those three are available, you still pick your best team.
“What it does show is that it’s created some depth and that’s a credit to the staff and selectors.”
But ex-allrounder Andrew Symonds thinks Boland should survive.
“They’ve got a really interesting situation because they’ve got Hazlewood coming back in, he’ll be fit again for the next Test,” Symonds said.
“So you can’t really drop a bloke who’s got 6-7, you wouldn’t have thought.”
‘Don’t bat on one leg’
The UK media continued to pick over the bones of England’s disastrous 12-day Ashes collapse with Joe Root and Chris Silverwood under increasing pressure.
Former England batsman Geoff Boycott said Root should step down.
“Now Australia are 3-0 up and the Ashes have gone, will Root please stop saying Australia are not much better than us? I don’t mind him living in cuckoo land but stop trying to kid us,” Boycott wrote in his column in The Telegraph.
“If he really believes what he says then maybe it is time he gave up the captaincy of the England cricket team.
“The facts are staring us all in the face, except Joe doesn’t want to see it – England can’t bat. Our bowling is ordinary.
“Nobody would want to give up the captaincy, but it is not about Joe – it is about getting guys to perform better.”
Former England batsman Mark Ramprakash hopes Root stays on as captain but believes he needs more support.
“Joe’s a great role model but the players around him have not been up to the mark and that’s why …you have to feel sympathetic for him,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I don’t think he’s necessarily tactically the best captain we’ve ever had, and so he will have to take his share of responsibility…but equally I think Joe needs support from people above him.
“We need to have a good hard look at how we help Joe Root if he continues as captain…but if he has the drive and desire to carry on then I would stick with him.”
Former England captain Michael Atherton believed Silverwood would pay dearly for the series loss, saying the blame lay squarely on his shoulders.
After a restructure by men’s managing director Ashley Giles in April, Silverwood absorbed a role as chief selector but England have struggled this year, winning just one of their last 12 Tests with a record nine defeats in 2021 including their MCG nadir.
“I can’t see a situation where Silverwood will survive this tour. All the responsibility lies with him,” Atherton told Sky Sports.
“The way Giles has set things up, there is only one man to blame, even though there are deeper issues than the blame game.”
Unlike most pundits Atheron attempted to give a pathway out of despair for the Poms starting with a reworking of the county cricket season.
Atherton feels the County Championship needs to become “a shorter, more condensed, more high-quality competition”, highlighting the schedule and the spread of talent as the major problems which must be addressed.
“If your system is strong and competitive, all the talk about coaching is slightly peripheral because what you’ll have is a natural Darwinian process where the best players come to the top of the pile.
“The best players will take wickets and the best players will score runs if that system is strong and competitive.
“I just don’t think it’s strong and competitive enough right now for a lot of reasons. 18 teams, talent spread quite thin, number of matches played at tricky times of the season.
“A shorter, more condensed, more high-quality competition would, in the end, allow the best players to come through and those best players should then be able to make that step up to Test cricket more easily.
“I’m not sure myself that coaching is the fundamental issue here. I think there are some odd theories knocking around, we saw some of them in the build-up to this game with England’s openers batting on one leg in a very visible net area.
“If you’re going to bat on one leg, do it in the indoor school away from prying eyes would be my advice, but probably the best advice would be not to bat on one leg.
“So I think there are some odd theories around, but in the end a good, strong competitive structure will bypass all that.”
Billings ready to answer the call
Sam Billings should have been part of the England batting line-up, according to The Roar’s coaching columnist Trent Woodhill, and he entered the wider conversation after blasting 67 off 35 balls in the BBL on Tuesday night.
Billings thrashed 10 fours and two sixes at Manuka Oval to help the Thunder pull off an upset 34-run win against the Scorchers.
Billings averages 33.72 from 25 one-day internationals for England but has never cracked the Test line-up.
However, the 30-year-old has thrived on Aussie decks in the BBL this season – something his countrymen have struggled to do this Ashes series.
Billings says he has not given up on playing Test cricket and would love to come to England’s rescue this Ashes series as they look to avoid a whitewash.
“It’s been a funny one. I’ve not played much (international) cricket,” said Billings.
“I’ve been in a lot of bubbles, I’ve been in a lot of England squads and not played enough.
“For me at the moment, I’m just enjoying playing. I’m 30 now and I’ve just got to play cricket.
“But if that call comes, yeah, Test cricket is still the pinnacle.”