Keep calm and hit the stumps: How Boland will handle Bazball assault

Scott Boland admits his bruising first encounter with Bazball compelled him to work on how to handle the emotions that come when a proud fast bowler is smacked all over the park.

After going for nearly five an over while taking just two wickets in as many Tests in England two years ago, Boland believes he is now better placed to deal with the prospect of batters advancing down the wicket towards him in the Ashes.

He will be aided, of course, by more familiar Australian conditions, but also the recent experience of staring down the attempts of Sam Konstas and others to do likewise.

After six overs in the Blues’ second innings in a Sheffield Shield game at the weekend, Boland was nursing figures of 0-41. After nine, he was sitting on 0-53. But returned to the attack when the match was very much in the balance, Boland scythed through the NSW middle order and tail to finish with 5-67 and the match award.

“I know there’s going to be spells where, even the other day I was going for five or six an over,” Boland said on Tuesday. “I think I’m getting better at managing my mind around all that stuff.

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“Sometimes when you’re used to going for two an over in Shield games, you can look up and be going for five or six and it’s a bit different. So it’s just managing those emotions.

“I think I did that pretty well the other day and was able to fight back and bowl a really good spell. It gives me confidence that if I’m not quite at my best I can still find it during a day or during a spell. I want to be competing all the time.”

The likes of Harry Brook, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have recently made an art form of worrying opposition bowlers and captains off their strengths. Brook was at it again, albeit in a T20 game, against New Zealand on Monday, cuffing 78 from 35 balls in sunny Christchurch.

With Pat Cummins’ return date uncertain, Boland will be squarely in the sights of England’s batters early in the Ashes, and his ability to target the stumps – six of his eight victims against NSW were bowled or lbw – will be challenged.

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“That’s been a big part of my game since years ago at the MCG when the wicket was pretty flat and we had to work out ways of how we’re going to get wickets,” Boland said. “My best way with my action and style of bowling (is) that I angle into the stumps.

“That’s really important for me. I haven’t got the bounce a Hazlewood does or Pat does, and I haven’t got the pace of Starcy, so it’s really important for me to be accurate. I know when we go into a bowling meeting we all come out laughing that it’s top of off and the occasional bouncer, I don’t think anything will really change from that.

“We’ve pretty much played against all these guys before, so we roughly know our plans, and we’ll just be honing in on them.”

As for the fact he may be required to front up for as many as five Tests this summer at the age of 36, Boland was confident that the calendar prepared for this edition of the Ashes made it plausible.

“If need be I should be able to get through it,” Boland said. “There’s quite long breaks between the first three Tests, so the only time we’ll really get tested is between Tests four and five where there’s only a four-day break.

“Last year we had a three-day break and learned a bit through that about what needs to happen for the body to get moving.

“I didn’t feel overly good the other day, but I had one really good spell and broke the game open, and we got the win. So it gives me a lot of confidence going in over the next three weeks to have a little break, refresh the body a bit and then I’ve got specific things I want to practice and work on.”

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One man Boland is hopeful of having as a reinforcement is his fellow Indigenous fast man Brendan Doggett, who is expected to return to the Shield for South Australia next round after a hamstring strain.

Boland was speaking because the Melbourne Cricket Club had confirmed the extension of a philanthropic partnership with Cricket Australia’s Indigenous pathway teams.

“That’d be awesome, we’ve seen the skill he’s got,” Boland said of Doggett. “I first played with Brendan in this program five or six years ago now, so he’s progressed really well. I think he’s going to be close to being one of the next fast bowlers in line.”

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