Meet Australia’s deadly-accurate ‘hired assassin’

Before requests for a statue to be erected in his honor in Melbourne arose, Scott Boland’s nickname dates back to when things started to get popular.

Nick Jewell, Boland’s coach at Frankston-Peninsula Cricket Club on the outskirts of Melbourne, says, “He was built a little bit like the shape of a barrel.”

Boland, who has been known as “Barrel” since he was a teenager, was always anticipated to play a significant role in the upcoming Ashes series. He has only been thrust further forward by injuries to Australia team-mates Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

The backup bowler has the best average since 1914 and has been a target for three legendary players.

He nearly completely missed the start line.

Before Jewell, who was still playing state cricket for Victoria at the time, set Boland’s player a challenge: lose 5 kg over the next two months and he’d be chosen for the first XI, he weighed around 115 kg when he first arrived in Frankston.

I drove past his car shortly after we made that deal and checked in, Jewell says.

“There were still some McDonald’s and KFC wrappers.” I subtly discussed our agreement with him.

Boland kept his endearment. His return to the top of the cricket field is a far cry from state under-age teams and academy pathways.

According to Jewell, “His transformation over the course of two years was difficult to believe.”

He almost resembles a hired assassin, he says. He is so composed, collected, and calm.

Whether it is going well or going poorly, you very rarely notice a change in his attitude or demeanor.

You might have wondered, “Am I getting through to this bloke, as a coach?” but you could tell from his performances and game changes.

An initial foray into white-ball cricket was made possible by success in the Melbourne grade system and years of wicket-taking in the Sheffield Shield.

Boland, who was seen as a yorker specialist for the death overs, played three T20s and 14 one-day internationals in 2016 at the same time as his maternal grandfather, who would take him on an Aboriginal XI tour of England in 2018 and in 2018.

Boland’s Test career, however, has become a statistical phenomenon.

At 16.53 on average, that is sixty-two wickets. These wickets only cost 12.63 runs at home.

No Australian has ever taken more than him, not even Shane Warne, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, or Josh Hazlewood, in the history of the game.

Former Australia opener Chris Rogers, Warney’s state coach, claims that the former opener once discussed developing a new ball every year.

It almost seems like Scotty has discovered one more thing every year and is only getting better at it.

He continues, “He owned a skill for a while, bowling yorkers and delivering them under pressure.”

“The white-ball game has changed, but it’s probably more about your adjustments and different delivery patterns,” he said.

He then transitioned to Test cricket, according to the statement.

Boland is the most accurate pace bowler in CricViz’s database of 14 Tests, according to analysts.

He may not hoop the ball or deliver it at frightening speeds, but he has made it a habit to find enough movement to take the batter’s line or defeat their defense, thanks to the pace and bounce of Australian pitches and a new Kookaburra ball that seams.

He is always at the top of our lists when we measure his lines and lengths, according to Rogers.

He almost always plays almost the same ball every time.

While a hat-trick against the West Indies earlier this year increased the list of accomplishments, Australian sporting legends remember six scalps on debut.

Ollie Robinson snaffled at third slip, Jack Leach bowled shouldering arms, Jonny Bairstow pinned lbw, Joe Root’s edged drive, Mark Wood took in the follow-through, and Haseeb Hameed’s thin snick.

At The G, it was six for seven.

We weren’t very well-versed in him, Leach recalls.

He appeared to be finding the edge and moving the ball exactly the right way both ways.

He hit his length hard, and I can recall how relentless it was.

Boland referred to that day as “changing life-changing.” An introvert became a cult hero after 24 deliveries.

Rogers claims that “he found it challenging.”

A man who has worked his entire career and worked hard to get everything right has a day like that where everything comes together.

He is “a little reclusive in some ways,” he said, “but that’s the charm of it as well.”

Jewell recalls the Adrian Butler Oval to show those characteristics.

He claims that because he entered the system a long time ago and didn’t go through the pathway system, he probably didn’t have anything overly confident or chest-pounding going for him, which is probably not the type of person he is.

You can tell that when he scores 6-7 at G, you struggle to make him smile.

Boland’s main strength has been consistency, not the other way around. Rogers skillfully sums up the phrase “His floor is his ceiling.”

He continues, “It’s just the same performances day in and day out.”

With less bounce and seam movement on offer in England for the 2023 Ashes series, repeatability quickly came into play.

The Bazballers of Ben Stokes were aware of the ball’s pitch and attack.

Two wickets in two appearances were the outcome. After England won the third Test in Leeds, he was not seen again.

According to Rogers, “He will have considered what he could do better.”

More important is how he reacts in the moment and how his mental abilities are affected by that. It may not have been technical.

He might have been unprepared for what transpired. He has his eyes open as he enters this series.

Boland has been near his unstoppable best domestically this season.

He has 14 wickets in three matches, averageing around his mid-20s, and, as Rogers puts it, provided a match-winning five-wicket haul on a final-day pitch against New South Wales.

Rogers claims that “he is tapering nicely to the first Test.”

When Pat Cummins was first revealed, it almost seemed like “OK I have got to be cherry ripe.”