No Ashes 'Big Four', but Boland's Bazball battle remains

He took a hat-trick in his last Test but the Victorian does not expect Australia's pace quartet will play all together again this summer

After multiple pre-teens pogoed him into the Yarra River on Wednesday afternoon, Scott Boland may be grateful the Ashes are still 100 days away.

To mark the occasion, the man with the best Test bowling average since World War One dutifully bowled rubber balls to passers-by at Southbank for the best part of half-an-hour as a mascot urn watched on. It was Boland’s first stint rolling the arm over since taking a hat-trick in Jamaica a month ago.

The match ball he used to help roll West Indies for 27, like the ones tonked into Melbourne's main waterway, is long gone.

Boland bowls at a CA promotional event in Melbourne for the 2025-26 Ashes // Getty

"Starcy's still got it," a grinning Boland said of the pink Dukes pocketed by Mitchell Starc after the left-armer took his 400th wicket in his 100th Test. "I haven't seen it."

Damien Fleming famously had a hat-trick delivery dropped in the slips. Another Victorian quick is now resigned to an even more brutal fate: getting dropped altogether after a hat-trick.

And that's because no bowler has more wickets at Perth Stadium, the venue for the NRMA Insurance Ashes opener on November 21, than Nathan Lyon, the shock omission for that third Test in the Caribbean – which means a Starc-Cummins-Hazlewood-Boland reunion, the pace-bowling Mount Rushmore, should remain a one-off for now.

01:06 Play video Boland becomes Australia's latest hat-trick hero as WI crumble

"I hope so – but probably not in Australia," Boland said of the potential for four frontline seamers being unleashed on England this summer. "Nathan's one of the best spin bowlers in the world, he can bowl in any conditions.

"He's been the glue to our bowling line-up over the last few years. Then you'll probably see Greeny (Cameron Green) coming back (from back surgery) and bowling, so that probably hurts the chances of four quicks as well."

Still, Boland is up for the task of taking on what has been his only Kryptonite in Test cricket to date: Bazball.

The burly right-armer took two wickets in as many Tests in the 2023 Ashes in the United Kingdom at an average of 115.50, as Ben Stokes' revamped England picked him off on better batting surfaces than the ones they first encountered him on in Australia in 2021-22.

'Pink Dukes for home Tests, chief?' Boland chats to CA chief executive Todd Greenberg // Getty

Two years on, aged 36, is he a better bowler now? "I'd say so," Boland said. "Even though I'm getting older, I still think my skills are getting better.

"Even though I'm in the twilight of my career, I'm still learning about what's helping me and what's getting me able to perform at 100 per cent.

"I've thought about (the 2023 Ashes) a lot since it happened. I still think there were times in England when I bowled pretty well, I just didn't get a wicket. I'm a better bowler than I was back then and (this Ashes) is going to be in conditions I know really well."

Australia coach Andrew McDonald has tasked Boland with finding a way to stave off Father Time. "'Ronnie' (McDonald) sort of, not challenged me, but asked me … is there anything we can make a bit different to make sure my body's at a really high level the whole time?"

A more focused approach to each Test series, a refined gym program, plus the installation of a sauna at his house in Melbourne's bayside 'burbs, has Boland optimistic he can keep the ankle and knee issues that have hindered him in recent times at bay.

"I just want to keep going," he said. "Keep my body as good as I can for as long as I can."

He expects to play two or three of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield matches before the Ashes.

For all his international success, Boland is yet to play the opening match of a home Test summer. Perth remains the only main Australian ground he’s not played at. The durability of the other three quicks saw him miss seven consecutive Tests through the 2023-24 season. Barring Jamaica, he has only ever played when one of the others has missed.

What could play in his favour is the gradual decrease in breaks between these five upcoming Ashes Tests. Nine-day gaps between the first and second Tests, and second and third Tests, give way to a pair of four-day gaps between Tests three, four and five. Put another way, the Ashes’ first two matches are spread over two-and-a-half weeks; its final three matches are packed into a tight three weeks.

30:51 Play video All 100 wickets taken by Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes series

Again, there are lessons from Boland's 14-Test career.

The paceman recalls how difficult it had been to back up after last summer's Boxing Day triumph over India, achieved in the final session of a five-day epic. Less than 100 hours had elapsed by the time the same three frontline speedsters (Boland, Starc and Pat Cummins) were bowling again on day one of the New Year's Test in Sydney.

"There's such good breaks in between the first two Tests (this summer) that it gives whoever plays an opportunity to really reset and freshen up," said Boland.

"Going from last year we had a three-day break in between (the final two Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests). We bowled the last session here in Melbourne, to bowling again the first session in Sydney.

"It's hard work and it probably does take you a session or two to get everything moving again as much as you try and … replicate match intensity. That's probably another thing I learned: I felt like I was ready going into the first morning, but I still felt really sore and tired."

01:41 Play video Fan favourite Boland takes six to edge Aussies closer to series win

When Boland was unveiled as Australia's secret weapon midway through the '21-22 Ashes, England were a fractured team on the brink of a monumental shift in outlook.

They will return as a far more settled and confident outfit. Boland, however, believes their hyper-aggressive batting approach will be more difficult to pull off on Australian surfaces.

And as much as his focus remains squarely on the Xs and Os, even one of Australian cricket's most reserved characters could not help but bristle a little when asked about the prospect of some old-fashioned Ashes sledging this summer.

"They can do whatever they want when they're playing," Boland said when asked about England's more hostile recent on-field demeanour, notable in their thrilling 2-2 series draw with India at home.

"I think we've been pretty consistent in the way we've played since I've been in and around the squad the last four years. Nothing much has changed in how we play our cricket.

"Even going forward, it's just going to be whoever wins those big moments in the games. We've got match-winners with the bat and with the ball.

"So yeah, if they want to sledge, that's fine. I don't think it's going to worry our guys too much."

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1.30pm AEDT

Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3.30pm AEDT

Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 11am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

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