‘I think Scotty’s everyone’s favourite’: Boland shades Hazlewood for Ashes spot

Josh Hazlewood admits that Scott Boland has smashed Australia’s fast bowling cartel as the team which won the World Test Championship final firms to be unchanged for the first Ashes Test, beginning at Edgbaston on Friday.

Boland looks increasingly likely to keep his place, suggesting Victoria’s relentless seamer has pierced the imposing NSW armory of captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood, who has declared he’s fit after recovering from a side niggle.

As recently as the Sydney Test in January against South Africa, Hazlewood returned from a side strain to push Boland out of the side – however Hazlewood then missed the India tour with an achilles problem.

“Definitely,” Hazlewood said when asking if the pecking order had now gone given Boland’s continued strong performances, pointing out that there was significant rotation of Australia’s pace attack during the last Ashes tour in 2019.

While Hazlewood admits he once would have expected to play every Test, those expectations have been tempered after managing just four Tests in the past two years because of various ailments, particularly side strains.

“If we go back a few years, I would have said all six [Tests], but I guess it’s a little bit different now, based on the last two years of history,” he said.

“I think three [this tour] would be a nice pass [mark], and four is probably a tick. Any more than that is great. Any less then I am probably a little disappointed again.

“But I think when you do have that [squad] depth, for each game you really go as hard as you can and then reassess after the game. Because you always have someone of high quality sitting on the pine and ready to go next game. So it’s a great position to be in for the team.

“Generally, you need that in big Ashes series and big summers. You need four or five quicks. We’ve seen the in the last few summers, everyone’s had a crack. Michael Neser has played, Jhye Richardson. The more depth we can have the better.

“I think having those options helps that [squad] mindset. No doubt you still want to play every game, and it’s hard to sit on the sidelines and watch. No shying away from that.

“But potentially if you bowl in back-to-back Tests and you bowl 50 overs, and you’ve got Boland, Starc or myself on the bench fresh ready to go, ready for the next Test, I think it makes those conversations a little bit easier and the guys are a little bit more open to it to create that longevity. Perhaps the all-format guys are more open to it than others.

“You just play it by ear with Test cricket. It’s not like white ball where, you know, you’re battling four or 10 overs. You could potentially bowl 25 or up to 50. You have those conversations every time in between Test matches.”

Cummins rightly claimed that Boland was the pick of Australia’s attack during the WTC final, which Australia won by 209 runs against India at the Oval on Sunday.

The captain also declared Boland his new favourite player, prompting a good-natured laugh from Hazlewood.

“I think Scotty’s everyone’s favourite at the moment,” Hazlewood said, claiming the addition of quality all-rounder Cameron Green had also changed the balance of the side for the better.

He believes that having the support of players like Boland and Green may help to prolong the careers of the other fast bowlers.

“Potentially, I think if you look at it that way, definitely. You might miss one or two games with a niggle rather than pushing it and missing three or four months,” Hazlewood said, admitting there may have been times when he should not have played.

“I think I may have in the past. Starcy was going to play a Test in South Africa but sat out for Chadd Sayers, and that sort of became a bit more in his tibia, a stress fracture.

“Things like that. I think you know where you’re probably at. At the time you want to play and then once you sit back and you’re not in the game, then things start to hurt a bit more.”

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