If Scott Boland’s name wasn’t already inked into Australia’s line-up for the first Ashes Test against England, his starring role in their clinical Day 5 performance to secure a 209-run win over India in the World Test Championship final will surely have done the trick.
Arguably the pick of the Australian quicks throughout the Test, Boland continued his happy knack of striking twice in the same over by removing Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja within three balls on the final morning, to emphatically end India’s hopes of the unlikeliest of wins.
“It felt pretty good to get Kohli out,” the always humble Boland admitted after finishing with figures of 3/46 in India’s second innings, and five scalps for the match.
“Some amazing catching from our cordon – it’s nice to have the confidence that if you get the nicks they’re going to get taken.”
With Josh Hazlewood all but certain to be fit for the first Test at Edgbaston, starting on Friday, the Australian selectors are set to face an almighty headache as they debate who of the veteran quick, Boland and Mitchell Starc is left out of the crucial match.
But even if it is Boland, he can rest assured that he will undoubtedly be called upon during the five-match series, with his five wickets at The Oval already proving the long-held opinion his unerring accuracy and ability to move the ball are perfectly suited for English conditions.
He has the captain on side, too, with Pat Cummins admitting after play that the much-loved Victorian is his ‘favourite player’.
“Scotty Boland is now my favourite player. He just continues to be my favourite,” Cummins said, before turning his attention to the rest of the team.
Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo by Gareth Copley-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
“Everyone just did their role,” he said.
“Coming off a bit of a break for most of us, we’ll savour this for a few days before we turn our attention to the Ashes.”
Cummins had particular praise for player of the match Travis Head, whose stunning 163 in Australia’s first innings provided the bulk of their match-winning 469, as well as fellow centurion Steve Smith.
“The way Travis and Smith played it gave us all a little bit of comfort after a pretty nervy morning,” Cummins said
“Travis has been brilliant throughout this whole campaign. He is always putting pressure back on the bowlers. We left day one on top of the game, mainly down to those two guys.”
Having missed the 2021 World Test Championship final due to an over-rates penalty, the emphatic triumph is sweet redemption for Australia, and a crowning jewel on Cummins’ already fruitful start to Test captaincy life. If he can add retaining the Ashes to his resume, the team he leads will officially have established itself as one of the greatest in the country’s history, an already stacked field.
For vanquished captain Rohit Sharma, defeat comes as a bitter pill, with India now having lost both Test Championship finals after being upset by New Zealand in the 2021 edition, after entering both matches as the higher seed.
“Credit to the Australian batters, in particular, Travis Head came in and played really well,” Sharma said.
“That took us off guard a little bit and then we knew it was always hard to come back.
“We put a up show. We fought hard, but congratulations to Australia.
“It was a good pitch to bat on. All five days the pitch behaved pretty well, and we didn’t capitalise.
“We’ve worked really hard for four years to make two finals. It’s disappointment for us. We would like to go one better. But you cannot take anything away from what we’ve done in the two years. It’s a great effort.
“We’ll keep our heads high and fight for the next championship as well.”
Resuming at 3/164, still 280 runs shy of victory, India’s hopes rested squarely on the shoulders of Kohli; sedate but composed early to rack up a series of singles, the heavily pro-India crowd was hanging on every shot.
Enter Boland: with the maestro one shy of a half-century, the Victorian hit a perfect line and length to encourage a flashy drive, finding just enough seam movement to catch Kohli’s edge. A flying Smith at second slip did the rest.
The 34-year old needed just two balls to see off the dangerous Jadeja; once again finding the perfect line and a hint of away movement, the left-hander’s outside edge feathered a simple chance through to Alex Carey.
Suddenly five down with just 15 added to India’s overnight total, the jig was up; a 33-run stand between Ajinkya Rahane and KS Bharat featuring some crisp strokeplay from the former in particular only delaying the inevitable.
It fell to Starc, the least impressive of the quicks throughout the Test, to stake his claim to retain his spot in the team: finding bounce out of nowhere, a surprised Rahane could only follow Kohli and Jadeja in edging behind.
Proving good things come in pairs, Nathan Lyon turned six wickets into seven one over later, first-innings saviour Shardul Thakur unable to come up with a second rearguard effort before being trapped in front for a duck, a desperate review only revealing just how plumb LBW he had been.
A blemish-free morning had its first blunder when a wild Green throw cost the expensive Starc four unwanted overthrows, but no doubt the left-armer would trade that for more brutish bouncers like the scorcher which an outclassed Umesh Yadav could only glove behind for Carey to take one-handed, the most spectacular of his three catches for the morning.
Bharat’s happy hitting brought two boundaries but ended with a wild slog off Lyon to gift the off-spinner an easy catch and third wicket.
The victory celebrations were delayed further when Mohammed Shami successfully reviewed a strangle down the leg side, but all that did was trade a Starc wicket for a Lyon one: his fourth wicket coming when Siraj reverse-swept, fittingly, straight to Boland at point.
