Despite taking five wickets in his first Test for almost 18 months, popular Australian quick Scott Boland is again likely to find himself on the outer.
Boland was the easiest of inclusions for the day-night Test against India at the Adelaide Oval after Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to a side strain suffered in the Border-Gavaskar series-opener.
The 35-year-old didn’t let Australia down, taking match figures of 5-105 in the 10-wicket demolition that finished before the end of the first session on day three.
But Hazlewood’s absence was more precautionary given his lengthy injury history over the past four years and he is likely to be fit for the third Test at the Gabba, starting on Saturday.
Hazlewood will go through an extended bowling session in Adelaide on Monday, pressing his case for a return to reunite with his long-term pace partners, captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
While Starc claimed career-best figures of 6-48 on Friday and Cummins took 5-57 in India’s second innings, Boland’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed.
He should have had a wicket with his first ball of the match, and two from his first over, but for a no-ball and a dropped catch.
“I thought it was a Herculean effort from Starcy and Scotty,” Cummins said of the first day of the Test. “It was hot … humid, and basically just kept rotating the bowlers and bowling all day.
“Huge effort from those guys, who showed their class. I feel very lucky as a captain to have those guys, and then having someone like (Nathan Lyon), who we didn’t even need to call on.
Pat Cummins celebrates his fifth wicket after removing Nitish Kumar Reddy. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
“It feels I’ve got a lot of tools at my disposal, so I feel very lucky. Fairly confident he’ll (Hazlewood) be right for Brisbane. If someone needs to make way, they’ll be pretty unlucky.”
Since famously making his debut on Boxing Day 2021, when he steamrolled England with 6-7, Boland has taken 40 wickets at an average of 20.42 from 11 matches.
Before being included for the day-night Test in Adelaide, the Victorian quick last played for Australia in the third match of the Ashes in July, 2023. Australia had 10 days off after being smashed in Perth by 295 runs when they spent 184 overs in the field, but there is a short turnaround to the third Test.
“We bought ourselves a couple days even bowling first. It buys you an extra day even if the game went a distance,” Cummins said.
“Two games into the series, I feel really good, probably better than you normally do. We’ll get up to Brisbane, we’ll recover well, that’s a priority for the next three or four days, and then be ready to go again.”
Meanwhile, India could send an SOS to veteran paceman Mohammed Shami to travel to Australia for the remainder of the Test series.
Mohammed Shami. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
India captain Rohit Sharma is imploring more players to step up in support of strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah after the tourists lost the second Test by 10 wickets in Adelaide.
With the series locked at one-all ahead of the third Test at the Gabba starting on Saturday, Sharma says the “door is very much open” for Shami to join the squad.
Shami hasn’t played for India since last year’s 50-over World Cup final in November last year. His most recent Test was in June last year.
The 34-year-old had ankle surgery last February but returned to action in India’s domestic ranks last month and has since played seven Twenty20 games.
