Ashes 2021/22: English counties lining up for a piece of Aussie sensation Scott Boland
If you can’t beat them, join them seems to be the English motto as county teams beat the door down for Scott Boland’s services - with one former Aussie star tipping him to absolutely dominate.
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England’s cricketers may be loathing the sight of Scott Boland but their county bosses love his style and have started a stampede to his door.
News Corp can confirm Test match sensation Boland has received several offers from English counties and fellow Indigenous Test star Jason Gillespie has tipped the chase for his signature will become red hot.
Gillespie believes Boland has the potential to take the county scene - and next year‘s Ashes tour - by storm.
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“He will have half a dozen counties after him, mark my words,‘’ said Gillespie, who coached Yorkshire and Sussex.
“They will be lining up to sign him. He would be a great county pro, there is no doubt about that. I can guarantee you he will do well in England with the Duke ball.
“If I was still coaching in county cricket, I would certainly be on the blower to him, that‘s for sure.’’
Gillespie believes next year‘s Ashes tour will be well within reach for the 32-year-old who has taken 14 wickets at 8.64 in two Tests with his relentless seam bowling.
Former England fast bowler Steve Finn expressed similar sentiments on the ABC.
“If Boland can stay fit, he‘d be an absolute shoe-in for a tour of England,’’ Finn said.
”His consistency and seam presentation, everything you need to become a good bowler in England, he possesses.’’
Unless he is feeling residual soreness from a rib complaint after falling at the crease, Boland appears set to retain his place for the pink ball Test in Hobart starting Friday.
“We know Scotty Boland had some sore ribs as well, so we’ve got a little bit of time. We’ll get a full report (on Wednesday) from the guys and have the training session just to see that everyone can shake off that soreness,” said Australian selector, Tony Dodemaide.
“(Boland)… is in a real purple patch, so it’s fantastic for him. It’s amazing for him and it’s been great for Australian cricket on a number of levels.”
As the only other Indigenous Australian male to play a Test, Gillespie is delighted by Boland‘s emergence and said it spoke volumes about the high standard of Sheffield Shield cricket.
“I feel absolute pride about that and is a special moment for everyone in the Indigenous community to see Scott play. It wasn‘t just receiving the cap. It was seeing him go well and make such an impact,” Gillespie said.
“I think his form proves our domestic structure is a great grounding for Test cricket. When the leading Sheffield Shield players have come in they have taken to it like a duck to water.
“Marnus Labuschagne has come in and done some wonderful stuff, Travis Head has done well and Usman Khawaja early this season batted for four hours against us (South Australia) on a challenging wicket in Adelaide and our bowlers could not have bowled any better.
“Boland has been bowling on a batter friendly surface in Melbourne and he has had to find ways to be effective and his way is with a perfect line and length.
“You saw the groupings of his balls on the television with the commentators talking about how they landed in a shoebox. Some of the way he set-up batsmen in that Test was incredible.
“What this proves is that while it‘s great having young players in the team, you also need players who are experienced and have that grounding.
“The last two bowlers who came through like this were Ryan Harris and Stuart Clark.’’
The amazing reason why Boland has been such an Ashes hit
- Ben Horne
He looks like your classical English seamer … but the problem for England is he’s Australian and is eating the tourist’s batters for breakfast.
Instant cult hero Scott Boland has at once destroyed England yet somehow given them hope that they might one day rise again on Australian soil.
Boland, after just three innings as a Test bowler, has 11 wickets at 8.27, which is more than any English bowler has taken in the Ashes.
The short term ramifications for this is that Australia’s oldest fast bowling debutant for 70 years at age 32 is likely to keep the career of boom West Australian Jhye Richardson on hold in the short term.
We all accept pecking orders are pecking orders but how do you drop a man with one of the best bowling average in Test history?
Pretty solid start to Scott Boland's Test career... 😳 #Ashespic.twitter.com/e6UrHkKxgr
— News Cricket (@NewsCorpCricket) January 8, 2022
Boland seems poised to hold his place for the final Test in Hobart and looms as an appealing option as a heavy duty freight train on the unforgiving Test decks of Pakistan in March.
Fox Cricket’s Kerry O’Keeffe made the notable point that Boland’s rise gives hope to every Sheffield Shield seamer that you can bowl at 130kph and still be a venomous force if you get your basic skills right.
The example he sets can stretch all the way to England as they try to work out how they can find pace bowlers to compete with Australia on Australian soil.
The English county system is stocked with bowlers who do not have the height, pace or left armed angle of Mitchell Starc, the pace and general weapons of Pat Cummins.
But in Boland they have a far more relatable role model for he resembles many a bustling English seamer from yesteryear such as Angus Fraser or Mike Hendrick.
Boland’s pace is standard in England but he does hit the wicket hard which accentuates his seam movement and Cricviz says his work so far has been the most accurate they have captured since their records began.
Statistics reveal that in his two Tests he has gained more seam but less swing that any bowler from either team.
It’s true he has had two generous wickets to bowl on but Boland has found a way to take wickets on lifeless decks in Sheffield Shield cricket by relentlessly hitting the seam just outside off stump.
He has cracked the riddle which continually remains unsolvable to England – how to get wickets with the Kookaburra ball which is not as seam friendly as the English Duke.
England need to work out why Boland can take wickets for fun yet Chris Woakes, a potent force in England and a skilled, thoughtful player, averaged 55 runs per wicket in his two Australian tours.
Is he simply a “floatier’’ style of seamer to Boland? Does he need to hit the wicket harder?
If England can find the answers they might just crack the Kookaburra curse.
‘Poland-mania’ sweeps the nation
Only three weeks ago Scott Boland appeared no chance of ever getting a baggy green cap, never mind becoming Australia’s newly minted cult hero.
In one of the most extraordinary transformations in recent cricket memory, Boland has gone from low-profile Sheffield Shield journeyman to the instant star who gets a Merv Hughes-style ovation every time he goes to the fence.
Boland’s figures of 8-7, collated from his last innings heroics at the MCG through his first 5.4 runless overs in Sydney, has captured the imagination of the nation.
Hughes used to play up to Bay 13 at the MCG and had them eating out of his hand, but Boland has managed a similar following with a personality so self-effacing he almost refuses to celebrate his wickets.
The similarities between big Merv and Scott “Poleand” – begin and end with Victorian fast bowlers, but 30 years on, a new cult hero has been born.
“I loved Boland’s effort. When he took two wickets on the second night (in Melbourne) he would have gone home and thought ‘life cannot get any better’” Hughes told News Corp.
“But it did and to see the reception he got the next day from Bay 13 was amazing.’’
In Sydney, the Boland story has got even bigger.
Josh Hazlewood’s ongoing injury problems has saved him from being left a one-game wonder, and Boland wasted no time proving his man-of-the-match heroics in Melbourne were no fluke.
Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket that the fans at the SCG, brought to their feet every time Boland returned to field on the fence, wouldn’t have known who the 32-year-old was 10 days ago, yet now “he’s their favourite player.”
It’s the story of the summer.
“I think the Scott Boland story has just got them as well,” Kerry O’Keeffe said on Fox Cricket of the crowd’s reaction.
“It’s captivated the cricket people around Australia. That this journeyman, who has just beavered away in first-class cricket on a flat MCG pitch for year after year has seized an opportunity. The fact he’s so self-effacing and humble.
“And that’s why crowds warm to him.”
At the MCG when Boland completed his five-wicket haul, he raised the ball so briefly (and only to eye level) you it was impossible to see with the naked eye.
Such was the humility.
“I would have held it up for so long people would have thought it was the statue of liberty,” joked O’Keeffe.
But Boland – only the second indigenous male Test cricketer in 144 years – is leaving a permanent mark.
O’Keeffe – who watches more Shield cricket than any analyst and tipped Boland as an MCG track specialist before selectors had even added him to the squad – said it’s the magic of Test cricket.
“It’s funny, I watched Scotty Boland for Australia A against England Lions and … (he was) hard working, persevering,” he said.
“If you’d said to me he’d have eight or nine Test wickets within the space of three weeks I’d have challenged.
“And here he is. This is what the game can do. It can turn you from hard working, persevering, to match winner.”
Revealed: Culprit behind bizarre Ashes non-dismissal
England have been stuck in the mud since the first ball of this Ashes series, but there were no complaints when it saved Ben Stokes’ off stump.
In one of the most mind boggling moments seen on a cricket field, Cameron Green sent a delivery clunking hard into the side of the stump – but despite the ball taking an obvious deflection, the bails remained unmoved.
Green was so shocked he didn’t know what to do but appeal.
Umpire Paul Reiffel was so dumbfounded he gave it out lbw (Stokes’ pad was a foot away).
Green was still so shocked he celebrated hard, but Stokes knew what had happened and reviewed immediately.
David Warner started prodding the off-stump with his finger and couldn’t get it to move a millimetre.
When Stokes had confirmation of the nick he’d heard off the stump confirmed, he burst out laughing.
And the England star might owe fourth umpire Shawn Craig a beer for saving his bacon in a bizarre sequence of events that left some questioning whether cricket even needs bails any more in the age of hot spot and snicko.
Fox Cricket expert Kerry O’Keeffe revealed the immovable stump might have had something to do with a direct request from Craig to SCG groundstaff after day two to cement the base of the stumps with mud.
“The fourth umpire suggested the stumps were so loose yesterday so the curators then filled the holes with mud which solidified the stumps and basically made them immovable as we saw, because that was a decent knock,” said O’Keeffe.
“I’ve heard they do that a lot. As the grooves where the stumps are become softened (during play) they do have to put mud in there to hold them upright.”
There was a possible hint into what was to come early on day three when Mitchell Starc cannoned into Haseeb Hameed’s middle stump at 139km/h only for it to gently bend backwards.
It was the kind of delivery that would have normally sent it cartwheeling.
Australia have had lady luck shine on them on occasions over the first three Tests, but England and Stokes received the biggest slice of it in one moment.
On top of the unmovable bails, Australia dropped four catches, plus Starc’s wicket off a no ball late on day two to start the innings – and yet England were still struggling.
Even in the age of technology, if anything, the uncanny moment should guarantee the survival of the bails as a charming part of the game that adds to the optical theatre of Test cricket.
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