Australia have announced their playing XI for the Boxing Day Test match against England and are set to award a first-ever match for Scott Boland. The Victorian was caught by surprise when the news came out, as Jhye Richardson was expected to keep his place after impressive performances in the last Test. However, an injury scare will keep Richardson out, thus providing Boland a debut.
Boland also has a little place in history having become only the fourth indigenous individual to represent Australia in Test cricket, after Faith Thomas, Jason Gillespie and Ashleigh Gardner. Australian captain Patrick Cummins, who missed out the last Test and will take his place back to replace Michael Neser, said that Australia has a great history, and it must be reflected in every aspect of life.
“The first thing you’ve got to wrap your head around playing at the MCG is you’ll have to bowl a lot of overs more often than not and he does that really well. The Shield game they won against New South Wales, I think he bowled 50 overs.
His pace stays up, he’s always at you, bowls really well to left handers. Asks a lot of questions around that fourth stump, knee roll, a bit of nibble each way. He’s just really well suited here,”
Cummins said, talking about the debutant.
The 32-year-old has been in stellar form at his home ground, the MCG, picking up 96 wickets in 27 Tests at an average of over 25. Even in the Sheffield Shield, he picked up 15 wickets at an average of just 10.80. Cummins went on to add that he was in line to feature in the Sydney Test but was eventually fast-tracked for this game.
According to multiple reports in Australia, Richardson pulled up sore after bowling 38 overs in the Day-Night Test. Josh Hazlewood continues to nurse his side injury and is not expected to recover in time for the Sydney Test that will follow.
Having registered two impressive victories thus far, Australia are looking to seal the deal in the Boxing Day Test. Marnus Labuschagne, David Warner and Steve Smith have been among the runs for the Aussie unit, keeping them firmly in contention to make it 3-0 before 30th December.
