Scott Boland stated that he is pain-free for the first time in 18 months. The right-arm bowler hopes to give the selectors a joyful headache when they meet to choose Australia’s playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa on Wednesday, June 11, at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. Boland and Josh Hazlewood are vying for a position in the XI, particularly with doubts about the latter’s fitness after breaking down in each of his last two Tests.
Boland, 36, received the Player of the Match award in his final Test outing against India in Sydney during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was not named to Australia’s team for the trip of Sri Lanka, as the Men in Yellow fielded only one quick and three spinners in each of the two Tests.
Scott Boland has not played cricket since Victoria’s second-last Sheffield Shield match of Australia’s domestic season in early March due to ongoing knee soreness.
“I’m really happy with how my body is feeling right now.” I was pain-free for the first time in nearly 18 months. cited Boland as saying, “So it feels really good.”
“My goal for the last two months has been to get myself and my body in a position where I can raise my hand and be ready to go if things go my way. I certainly felt like by the conclusion of the Shield season, my knee wasn’t wearing away, but it wasn’t going the way I wanted. And I didn’t feel like I was bowling as I wanted. But now I feel like I’m in a terrific position to bowl how I want. It’s pulling up quite nicely, so that’s all I can do, and I just want to make their decision as difficult as possible,” he said.
Boland, on the other hand, praised Hazlewood’s artistry and acknowledged his services to the champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
“I felt I had a number of extremely good games. But Josh is clearly a world-class bowler. He’s one of the top bowlers in the world, coming off a strong IPL performance. So I am sure he will want the same thing here. “Obviously, we all want to play, but there may not be enough room for everyone,” Boland said.
India
