Australia suffered a huge blow when Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the pink-ball Test against India in Adelaide, which put the focus on right-arm pacer Scott Boland to replace him for the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. But India got a good look at Boland with the pink ball in the warm-up fixture at Canberra, which many in Australia believe has put India at an advantage.
Boland was named in the Australian Prime Minister’s XI squad well before Hazlewood’s side strain made him unavailable for the day-night Test in Adelaide. But cricket experts and the Aussie media believe that Cricket Australia could have withdrawn him and not let India warm-up against the 35-year-old seamer.
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Australian journalist Tom Morris questioned if the CA selectors have done the “right thing”.
Speaking on SEN radio, Morris said: “Did the Australian selectors do the right thing playing Scott Boland against India? Would it have been better for him and Australia to go into this game with India not having seen him with a pink ball?”
Boland has played 10 Tests in his career so far since his debut in the Boxing Day Test of the 2021 Ashes series. But he has been out of the side since the Leeds Test of the Ashes in July last year.
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“I probably expected to play at some stage last summer with seven Tests because of the New Zealand tour as well,” Boland was quoted as saying by yahoo.com. “Obviously with those guys (Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc) being so resilient, they don’t miss too many and no one wants to give up their spot at any stage.
“They were so dominant last summer, they weren’t bowling a heap of overs. We were able to win most of those games, so I probably thought maybe the opportunity had passed. I’ve worked really hard during the off-season to get my body in a spot where I’m confident that if I get another chance I’ll be able to perform for Australia again.”
Cricket Australia has added fast bowlers Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett in the squad, but Boland remains the front-runner to replace Hazlewood.
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