Scott Boland will be making his debut in the Ashes Test against England in the Boxing Day match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
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The Australian cricket team has sprung a big surprise on the eve of the Boxing Day Ashes Test in Melbourne against England. Australia, who are 2-0 up in the five-match Ashes series and needs a win or a draw, have included Victorian pacer Scott Boland in the playing 11 against England. Pat Cummins, who missed the Adelaide Test due to a coronavirus scare, is set to come back and lead the side. Josh Hazlewood will miss the Melbourne Test as he continues to recover from a side strain.
There was doubt as to why Jhye Richardson was not included in the team. Richardson, who picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide, will not play the MCG Test due to an injury. This was revealed by Pat Cummins in the pre-match press conference. “He was pretty sore. We were umming and ahhing – he had a bowl yesterday but we thought seven days off (before the fourth Test in Sydney) will give him enough rest. He’s (Richardson) got a small leg injury which is nothing major. But we thought rather than risking a long-term injury, we’d give him a week off,” Cummins stated.
Scott Boland played a total of 14 ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals in the 2016 period. Boland was part of the side when the likes of Hazlewood, Cummins, and Mitchell Starc were rested on a rotational basis in that period. Boland took only one wicket in the series against India on debut but he was impressive in the series against New Zealand and South Africa.
But, it is his record at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that has prompted Cummins to include him in the side. Boland, who is 32 years of age, has 91 wickets at an average of 25 at the Sheffield Shield level for Victoria. He was also the Man of the Match in a recent Marsh Cup ODI match. In his last Sheffield Shield game against New South Wales, Boland took 5/56 and 3/33.
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“The Shield game they won against New South Wales, think he bowled 50 overs. His pace stays up, he’s always at you, bowls really well to left-handers. Asks a lot of questions around that fourth stump, knee roll, a bit of nibble each way. He’s just really well suited here. We earmarked him as a chance for SCG and here, we feel he’s really well suited. His record speaks for itself here in domestic cricket,” Cummins stated.
The Boxing Day Test represents a great chance for Australia to seal the Ashes for the third straight time. They won the first Test by nine wickets in Brisbane. During the second Test, Australia sealed a 275-run victory. Australia’s recent record at the MCG has been mixed. In 2017, England managed to draw the MCG Test that helped them avert the 5-0 whitewash. During the encounters against India in 2018 and 2020, Australia lost both matches by a big margin. Their only win came against New Zealand in 2019. This was New Zealand’s first Boxing Day match after 32 years.
In addition to his Test debut, Boland will also create history. The Victorian is an indigenous Australian, belonging to the Gulidjan tribe in Victoria. He will become the fourth indigenous Australian to play Test cricket after Jason Gillespie, Faith Thomas, and Ashleigh Gardner. If Boland wins the Man of the Match award at the MCG, then he will be awarded the Jonny Mullagh Medal. Mullagh is the Aboriginal all-rounder who traveled to England as part of the Australia team.
David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
