Australia add pacer Scott Boland to their squad for the third Ashes Test
Scott Boland (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Australia have added pacer Scott Boland to their squad for the upcoming third Ashes Test. The Victorian player has been training with the team in Adelaide. He has been added to the squad for precautionary purposes as the medical team will assess the fast bowling group ahead of the Boxing Day Test.
“Boland has been training with the team in Adelaide and joins the squad while the medical team assesses the fast bowling group following the second Test victory,” a release from Cricket Australia stated on Tuesday (December 21).
Boland has been a great performer for Victoria for several years. He had a breakthrough season in 2018-19 and won the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year award. The Victorian pacer has also been in scintillating form in the ongoing edition of Sheffield Shield. He has taken 15 wickets at a staggering average of 10 in just two matches against New South Wales.
He also played a match against English Lions in Brisbane before joining the national team in Adelaide. Meanwhile, the national selectors have stuck with the same 15-member squad for the remainder of the Ashes series. The selectors putting faith in the same personnel is testimony to Australia’s dominant display in Brisbane and Adelaide. Even without regular skipper Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, the team managed to beat England by 275 runs.
Cummins and Hazlewood are expected to be back in the playing XI for the Boxing Day Test. Meanwhile, by adding Boland to the mix, Australia will be able to monitor the workload of the pacers. The hosts lead the Ashes 2-0 and are now just a win away from retaining the urn.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, David Warner, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Swepson.
