Calls for Scott Boland to graduate from ‘back-up bowler’ status after SCG heroics

Scott Boland’s heroics in the deciding SCG Test had fans in raptures and calling for the cult hero to trigger a change in the Test team.

Build the man a statue.

Scott Boland has reinstated his status as the best back-up player in Test cricket, claiming his maiden 10-wicket haul to shift the fifth Test in Australia’s favour.

Australia claimed a six-wicket victory at the SCG to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar for the first time in a decade.

After taking four crucial wickets on Day 2, including Virat Kohli for the fifth time, Pat Cummins dismissed danger man Ravindra Jadeja as the Australian captain and Boland ripped through India’s tail.

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Australia’s fast bowlers previously bowled bouncers to the tailenders, but there was no mistake this time, with Boland and Cummins targeting the stumps and making the most of the SCG pitch’s variable bounce.

Three of Boland’s six wickets in the second innings were clean bowled, while Kohli once again fell into the trap of playing at a delivery tossed up at a fifth stump line.

Boland finished with figures of 4/31 in the first innings and 6/45 in the second innings. He took 21 wickets from three Tests, while Cummins led the Aussies with 25 wickets from five matches.

Scott Boland took 10 wickets in the SCG Test. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Boland’s success since his famous debut at the MCG in the 2021-22 Ashes has proved his figures of 6/7 that day was no fluke.

The 35-year-old is as economical as they come and he has only really been troubled when England went on the attack in the 2023 Ashes — Boland finished with figures of 2/231 from two Tests.

But there’s no doubt Boland should be on the plane to Sri Lanka for the two-Test series starting later this month and be a key part of Australia’s plans for next summer’s home Ashes.

As Boland tore England apart on his debut two years ago, Fox Cricket’s Mark Howard famously declared: “Boland’s got six at the ‘G, build the man a statue!”

Now Boland might have a case for a statue at both the MCG and SCG, or at the very least be a walk-up selection at both venues.

Mitchell Starc is a strike weapon but he hasn’t had the most productive returns in recent years in Melbourne and Sydney. There’s no reason why Boland can’t play in his place.

Josh Hazlewood’s side strain and calf injury opened the door for Boland to play three Tests against India, but is it time Boland is seen not as a back-up but as a genuine regular of the XI?

West Indies legend Ian Bishop wrote on X: “Absolute pity that Scott Boland could not debut in Test cricket until he was nearly 33 years of age.”

Should we... build the man a statue?

— Melbourne Cricket Ground (@MCG) January 5, 2025

Josh Hazlewood took 35 wickets at 13 in the 2024 calendar year. The best average of any bowler in the world to have taken more than 5 wickets. Scott Boland story is awesome, but let's not pretend he's been blindly overlooked, he's behind a hall of fame trio #AUSvIND

— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) January 5, 2025

10/76 match figures for Scott Boland. 21 wickets at 13.19 in three games. If he’s fit, he’s no longer the No.4 quick for Australia at home who plays only because of injury. We’re now in the territory of rotation, based on conditions, scheduling, venue etc. #AUSvIND

— Andrew Wu (@wutube) January 5, 2025

Surely the narrative has to change around Scott Boland being the backup pace option for Australia.

— Adam White (@White_Adam) January 5, 2025

Seems a travesty that Scotty Boland isn't in the starting line of an Australian XI and has to wait for an injury to be included. He is too good to be a second choice IMHO.

— Henry Olonga (@henryolonga) January 4, 2025

Hazlewood is injury prone but if he is fit, it will be fascinating to see which of Hazlewood, Starc or Boland is left out of the World Test Championship final in June at Lord’s.

It’s worth remembering it was Boland who took crucial wickets including that of Virat Kohli to break the back of India in the 2023 WTC final.

Brett Lee said on Fox Cricket: “Scott Boland, how good is he?”

Mike Hussey added: “Not bad for a back-up bowler, is he? Scott Boland, five-wicket haul. So consistent, so disciplined, so relentless with his line and length. A well deserved five-wicket haul.”

Scott Boland is one of the great Test cricket stories. Photo: Tom Parrish

Boland was typically humble after his latest heroics, describing it as “pretty special”.

“Fast bowling’s pretty hard work so you can’t get too far ahead of yourself,” he said.

“There’s as many bad days as there are good. I’m just trying to ride this wave at the moment.”

The Australian camp raves about how Hazlewood is the perfect foil for Starc and Cummins with his consistent line and length.

Boland is just as dangerously metronomic and now has 56 Test wickets from 13 matches at an average of 17.66.

Originally published as Calls for Scott Boland to graduate from ‘back-up bowler’ status after SCG heroics