‘It’s changed my life . . . it’s not going to last forever, so I’m trying to soak it up’
Scott Boland became a national hero overnight, at 32. As one of only two Indigenous Test cricketers ever, he’s a man on a mission.
VWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from VWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
While Scott Boland was bowling over the cricket world on debut, his family was playing in nearby parkland.
The Melbourne born and raised father of two took 6/7 in the second innings of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG and was suddenly cast as a national hero at the ripe age of 32.
His wife Daphne and their two daughters Charli, 4, and Andi, 2, were oblivious to the unfolding events that would change their lives.
“There was a Covid scare in the England camp so me and the girls were at Fitzroy Gardens and all of a sudden my phone was blowing up about how well Scott’s doing and I wasn’t close to a TV and it didn’t hit me until it all started going crazy,” Daphne recalls.
“A lot of people joked when he was called up, they’re getting people from the aged care facilities to play cricket but more than anything I’m glad the hard work has paid off for him.”
Boland attracted the selectors’ attention after chipping away at first class level. He wasn’t surprised by his instant success having confidence in his ability but being more mature has helped him bottle the moment.
It’s not often a man in his 30s has the kind of impact he did at the top level.
“It all happened so fast, now it’s nice to sit back and see the things we achieved as a team and I’ve had so many people say how great it was and how proud they are of me,’’ Boland says. “I remember walking up to the ground on the morning of day one, there’s not many people who go to Shield games and I’ve never had a crowd embrace me the way the MCG crowd did. To have the whole stadium chant my name around the ground was incredible.
“I don’t want to be stuck on three Test matches so that’s a goal of mine coming into the next 12 months. To be ready to play if something happens to someone else and keep putting pressure on those guys in front of me to hopefully get my chance to play some more cricket for Australia because that’s all I’ve wanted to do for the last 10 years and getting a small taste of it last summer makes me want to play even more.”
Boland went on the tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka but hasn’t yet stepped back on to the cricket pitch in a baggy green cap.
He is considered to be next in line with an incredible 9.55 bowling average with the pink ball – and has earned a call-up for the Adelaide Test currently being played.
Next month he will be able to relive his glory for Australia when season two of Amazon’s behind-the-scenes documentary, The Test, comes out on Prime Video.
“I think being 33 I’ve had my chance to play for Australia in white ball (one day) cricket probably six years ago and it didn’t go how I wanted it to go,’’ Boland says.
“That’s professional sport. But to get another chance now at 33 I just want to put my best foot forward in everything I’m doing and give myself the best chance to play for Australia.
“I’ve probably been caught out in the past thinking, ‘Oh, I won’t get selected for this or that’ and it doesn’t work out. With the position I’m in at the moment I’m next in line to play out of the fast bowlers, I know it’s a cliche, but I’ve got to keep my focus on each ball that I’m bowling. If I get too far ahead I’m not concentrating on the right things. I’m only 33 and have a few good years left. I haven’t had many injuries and touch wood that continues.”
Boland was born in Mordialloc and grew up in Parkdale with his sister Sarah and brother Nick. He liked Aussie rules but loved watching the cricket and his idols Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.
His modesty means he won’t get carried away by his new-found status and he regularly sees a sport psychologist as well as leaning on former teammates John Hastings and Matthew Wade for advice.
But Boland has also enjoyed having new doors open. He has always barracked for St Kilda but got the chance to sit in the Richmond coaching box during the Dreamtime game this year, an experience he described as eye-opening.
When he’s not playing cricket he’s on the fairways and having a hit with his mates and also going to some footy matches.
A member at Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club in Frankston, he’s a fair talent with the golf ball, playing off eight.
“It’s definitely changed my life, the last 12 months,’’ Boland says. “So far it’s all been really positive but I’m sure that will change if I have a few crappy games.
“I’m recognised a lot more going to the shops or the footy. I went to a school fete the other night and I probably spent more time taking selfies with 15-year-old boys than I did with my girls. That’s okay, I know it’s not going to last forever so I’m just trying to soak it up.”
As a proud Indigenous man Boland has also outlined a personal mission to visit remote communities around Australia having resonated on a deeper level with Aboriginal youth cricketers.
After bursting on the scene at the Boxing Day Test he was named the Player of the Match and received a standing ovation as he was awarded the Mullagh Medal, in honour of pioneering Indigenous cricketer Johnny Mullagh.
He was also inundated with messages of support from Indigenous athletes including Olympian Nova Peris, AFL star Charlie Cameron and NRL leader Latrell Mitchell, and Australia’s only other Aboriginal male Test player, Jason Gillespie.
Boland and Gillespie are the only Aboriginal representatives in more than 140 years of Test cricket.
“Hopefully I can help pave the way for Aboriginal kids to want to play cricket,” Boland says.
“We thought we could make (it a plan) to have us players at the Imparja Cup and even going out to remote communities and taking out plastic bats and balls and just get thousands of them out there to get people playing the game of cricket.
“Obviously there’s such a higher percentage of Aboriginal players in the NRL and AFL and if we can help grow the game at the lowest level, hopefully it will filter through over the next few years to the higher level.”
Boland also has recently visited Uluru and will head to other communities. Just last month he was on deck at the MCG to announce the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) Foundation’s three-year partnership with Cricket Australia that will see the Club support the National Indigenous Cricket Championships (NICC) and CA’s Indigenous Cricket pathways.
Boland’s wife Daphne says he feels extra responsibility, but in a good way.
The pair met when they worked together aged 21 at well known bar Doyles in Mordialloc.
“Before we met she wouldn’t have watched a game of cricket in her life but I’ve been playing professionally the whole time we’ve been together and she’s got used to cricket,’’ Boland says.
“She’s got to know the game a bit more and definitely knows more than when we started. It’s nice to come home and we don’t have to talk about cricket.”
He jokes, “I don’t need her criticising me as well.”
The pair were friends before they became romantically involved with Daphne putting in some effort to win over her man.
“We’ve been together since 2010 and married in 2017,’’ she says.
“We worked at Doyles in the bar when we were 21. We were friends before we started dating but he needed a good nudge.
“I was supposed to set him up with a friend and it made me look at him in a different light and think, ‘No, I want him to be mine’.
“Everyone always says they ended up with a nice guy but I definitely did.
“I think he feels a responsibility, and not in a bad way, but he doesn’t want to disappoint. Our kids are two and four so they don’t understand anything and don’t really follow cricket. The only difference is they’ll ask, ‘daddy, why do people want to take your photo?’ It’s all been really special.”
‘She was raped, I was conceived’: Layne Beachley’s secret torment
For surf legend Layne Beachley, becoming the best in the world became an unhealthy obsession as she wrestled with dark secrets from her past.
Why Martin Pakula loves life after politics
Former state attorney-general and sports minister Martin Pakula has opened up on the challenges of his role during the Covid pandemic, why he doesn’t miss politics and how he’s revved up about steering next year’s Australian F1 Grand Prix.