Not Just Wickets, Scott Boland’s Dogged Rigidity Makes Him Unwonted

Bhargav Dixit

Scott Boland celebrates Virat Kohli's wicket. [Source: AP]Scott Boland celebrates Virat Kohli's wicket. [Source: AP]

What would you expect from a cricketer playing an international match after 17 months? Nerves? Raw? Rusty? While most cricketers would be on pins and needles upon returning to the highest level after more than a year, Australia fast bowler Scott Boland behaved as if he had never been away.

Called upon to bowl first-change, a role he has fulfilled 17 out of 21 times in Test cricket, on the first day of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test match against India at the Adelaide Oval yesterday, Boland dismissed India batter KL Rahul on the first ball to make a swift re-entry to the highest level.

Rightly denied a wicket because he had overstepped, Boland induced Rahul’s edge again in the same over only to be dropped by Australia batter Usman Khawaja at first slip.

Not perturbed by an eventful first over which didn’t exactly go his way, Boland remained at it the Indian batters. Perhaps affirmative by the prospect of being among the wickets with a pink ball in hand, Boland eventually tasted success by finding India batter Shubman Gill plumb in front of the stumps in his second spell.

In the same spell, luck knocked on Boland’s head as Khawaja’s opening partner Nathan McSweeney dropped India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant off the right-arm bowler. In the same over, however, an inexorable Boland once again eliminated fielders from the picture by taking matters in his own hands as he trapped India captain Rohit Sharma in front of the stumps.

Why Is Scott Boland Uniquely Special?

This dogged rigidity of Boland is what sums up his Test career to a T. Boland, who played 17 white-ball matches in 2016, had to wait for over half-a-decade for a maiden Test cap. Consider it as Boland 2.0 if you wish to, he has been a much better international cricketer since his Test debut on the back of picking 39 wickets at an average of 20.64 and a strike rate of 42.3.

Since his Test debut, among bowlers who’ve picked 35 wickets in the format, while Boland’s average is the third-best, his strike rate is the sixth-best. Barring England pacer Gus Atkinson, everyone above Boland on these two lists have played more Tests than him in this period.

If truth be told, the 35-year-old player holding on to his form in spite of sporadic opportunities is unaccustomed and deserves to be rhapsodized about. In spite of the limited chances, retaining your form and rhythm at this level in one thing, retaining it without playing a lot in between is outright outstanding. Temperament, a commonly-used word nowadays, surely plays a role.

For the unversed, unlike some other reserve players, Boland hasn’t dominated domestic charts lately because of workload management in addition to a knee injury which cut short his County stint to a lone outing earlier this year.

Currently playing his 11th Test when his captain, also a fast bowler, has played 29 in the same period, one often wonders about Boland’s possible achievements had he not been part of the current Australian squad which features a legendary trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

For Australian bowlers with more than five wickets since Boland’s debut, his average and strike rate are the best. To provide further context regarding how exceptional Boland’s start to Test cricket is, it is noteworthy that Cummins (36) and Starc (30) had picked less wickets than Boland in their first 11 respective Tests.

Even in the second innings in Adelaide today, all Boland needed to pick a wicket was a solitary delivery, yet again. In his fourth over on Saturday, he was responsible for dismissing former India captain Virat Kohli to make merry in a format which some players find intimidating.

While there’s a strong possibility that Boland would better his numbers on Day 3, there’s a stronger possibility that he might not play the third Test in Brisbane to register another instalment of luck doing the dirty on him.