If Scott Boland’s name wasn’t already inked into Australia’s line-up for the first Ashes Test against England, his starring role in their clinical Day 5 performance to secure a 209-run win over India in the World Test Championship final will surely have done the trick.
Arguably the pick of the Australian quicks throughout the Test, Boland continued his happy knack of striking twice in the same over by removing Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja within three balls on the final morning, to emphatically end India’s hopes of the unlikeliest of wins.
“It felt pretty good to get Kohli out,” the always humble Boland admitted after finishing with figures of 3/46 in India’s second innings, and five scalps for the match.
“Some amazing catching from our cordon – it’s nice to have the confidence that if you get the nicks they’re going to get taken.”
With Josh Hazlewood all but certain to be fit for the first Test at Edgbaston, starting on Friday, the Australian selectors are set to face an almighty headache as they debate who of the veteran quick, Boland and Mitchell Starc is left out of the crucial match.
But even if it is Boland, he can rest assured that he will undoubtedly be called upon during the five-match series, with his five wickets at The Oval already proving the long-held opinion his unerring accuracy and ability to move the ball are perfectly suited for English conditions.
He has the captain on side, too, with Pat Cummins admitting after play that the much-loved Victorian is his ‘favourite player’.
“Scotty Boland is now my favourite player. He just continues to be my favourite,” Cummins said, before turning his attention to the rest of the team.
“Everyone just did their role,” he said.
“Coming off a bit of a break for most of us, we’ll savour this for a few days before we turn our attention to the Ashes.”
Cummins had particular praise for player of the match Travis Head, whose stunning 163 in Australia’s first innings provided the bulk of their match-winning 469, as well as fellow centurion Steve Smith.
“The way Travis and Smith played it gave us all a little bit of comfort after a pretty nervy morning,” Cummins said
“Travis has been brilliant throughout this whole campaign. He is always putting pressure back on the bowlers. We left day one on top of the game, mainly down to those two guys.”
Having missed the 2021 World Test Championship final due to an over-rates penalty, the emphatic triumph is sweet redemption for Australia, and a crowning jewel on Cummins’ already fruitful start to Test captaincy life. If he can add retaining the Ashes to his resume, the team he leads will officially have established itself as one of the greatest in the country’s history, an already stacked field.
For vanquished captain Rohit Sharma, defeat comes as a bitter pill, with India now having lost both Test Championship finals after being upset by New Zealand in the 2021 edition, after entering both matches as the higher seed.
“Credit to the Australian batters, in particular, Travis Head came in and played really well,” Sharma said.
“That took us off guard a little bit and then we knew it was always hard to come back.
“We put a up show. We fought hard, but congratulations to Australia.
“It was a good pitch to bat on. All five days the pitch behaved pretty well, and we didn’t capitalise.
“We’ve worked really hard for four years to make two finals. It’s disappointment for us. We would like to go one better. But you cannot take anything away from what we’ve done in the two years. It’s a great effort.
“We’ll keep our heads high and fight for the next championship as well.”
Resuming at 3/164, still 280 runs shy of victory, India’s hopes rested squarely on the shoulders of Kohli; sedate but composed early to rack up a series of singles, the heavily pro-India crowd was hanging on every shot.
Enter Boland: with the maestro one shy of a half-century, the Victorian hit a perfect line and length to encourage a flashy drive, finding just enough seam movement to catch Kohli’s edge. A flying Smith at second slip did the rest.
The 34-year old needed just two balls to see off the dangerous Jadeja; once again finding the perfect line and a hint of away movement, the left-hander’s outside edge feathered a simple chance through to Alex Carey.
Suddenly five down with just 15 added to India’s overnight total, the jig was up; a 33-run stand between Ajinkya Rahane and KS Bharat featuring some crisp strokeplay from the former in particular only delaying the inevitable.
It fell to Starc, the least impressive of the quicks throughout the Test, to stake his claim to retain his spot in the team: finding bounce out of nowhere, a surprised Rahane could only follow Kohli and Jadeja in edging behind.
Proving good things come in pairs, Nathan Lyon turned six wickets into seven one over later, first-innings saviour Shardul Thakur unable to come up with a second rearguard effort before being trapped in front for a duck, a desperate review only revealing just how plumb LBW he had been.
A blemish-free morning had its first blunder when a wild Green throw cost the expensive Starc four unwanted overthrows, but no doubt the left-armer would trade that for more brutish bouncers like the scorcher which an outclassed Umesh Yadav could only glove behind for Carey to take one-handed, the most spectacular of his three catches for the morning.
Bharat’s happy hitting brought two boundaries but ended with a wild slog off Lyon to gift the off-spinner an easy catch and third wicket.
The victory celebrations were delayed further when Mohammed Shami successfully reviewed a strangle down the leg side, but all that did was trade a Starc wicket for a Lyon one: his fourth wicket coming when Siraj reverse-swept, fittingly, straight to Boland at point.
matth
Roar Guru
I’m not saying he shouldn’t play - far from it- I’m just saying it’s likely all four, plus Neser will likely get a go across the five tests as we have just played one and have two lots of back to back tests in the Ashes. And every single pace bowler we have (excluding Green) is well over 30
Kizman
Roar Rookie
Because of our anti-siphoning rules, ch9 have exclusive rights to the Ashes as it has to be on FTA. It's why I suspended my Kayo sub for the next few months, as they dont even have the highlights or replays on there.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I missed that.
matth
Roar Guru
You know how many injuries and matches were missed by the bowlers of that era right?
matth
Roar Guru
Last year when called on to play back to back tests he was cooked
Pop
Roar Rookie
It’s important for Green to score well early in the series for his confidence. He looks like he needs to loosen up a bit and become more positive in run accumulation. A breakthrough century in England on the horizon.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
Yeah, they're both good options to have.
Pop
Roar Rookie
Neser just hasn’t had the number of test opportunities as Starc. If he had he would have had a test century by now. Neser is every bit as good a batsman as Jadeja. Jadeja has centuries to his credit and improved as a bat because of opportunities.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
Well this is the big dance, our best chance of winning a test series in England since Paine forgot to bat last time out at the Oval. We haven't won a series there forever. Our openers are fragile in England and so are theirs. But after that we are better. Alis inclusion gives the Poms a better tail but his batting was mostly poor later in IPL so no recent form that I know of. It is gonna need Ollie Robinson and Harry Brook to stand up and perform for England to win. We know our guys will. Hopefully a great series coming up. As for India. I don't think they brought their best team available, to play. Their selections are poor.
junk
Roar Rookie
That's what you get for playing for Viktoria.
Steele
Roar Rookie
He has a pretty damn good record for a guy you never hear about.
junk
Roar Rookie
Tremain is a pretty good bowler. They were good together.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I didn’t miss the point. I don’t believe home nations should have the right to tailor pitches to order. It’s never worked that way in Oz, or SA or NZ. I view it as cheating and would like it stopped. My idea is one proposal
Micko
Roar Rookie
Would prefer Paris as a left arm alternative if he's fit.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I generally agree with you but Bolo looking pooped? Bolo is no show pony or race horse. He's a long hauler.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Are Kayo showing it as well? I assume channel 9 will take the UK Sky Sports feed - so that’s Nasser, Atherton, Doull, Sangakarra etc.
Barb Dwyer
Roar Rookie
Starc has a test hs of 99. Neser's is 35. I like both players but Starc has good record.
Steele
Roar Rookie
I’d love to see Neser play. Can’t believe he wasn’t on a plane to India.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Not sure, but Tremain was just as good as Boland to be honest. It was a pretty good duo on some pretty ordinary wickets. They both had a brief turn at white ball cricket from memory. Just never in the frame for a test spot.
Steele
Roar Rookie
Agree Munro, we have been stagnant during some of these lean periods. Particularly against India at home. We have depth but it’s only been used when one of the big three couldn’t play.