Former Australian spinner Bryce McGain has thrown his support behind Scott Boland as the ideal replacement for the injured Pat Cummins, who looks unlikely to appear in the first Ashes Test in Perth.
It comes as former England captain Michael Atherton says the English batting line-up won’t be intimidated by Boland, who has a strong chance to appear during the opening test match as the Australian captain recovers from a lower back injury.
However, looking at the stats sheets can refute these claims, with Boland averaging 16.53 across 16 tests and famously taking a stunning 6/7 during the 2021/2022 Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Based on past trends, McGain is confident Boland will be a more-than-capable replacement for Cummins
“The data says Boland has performed better when he’s fresh. That’s also got to do with it being the only opportunity he’s got,” he says.
“He doesn’t play every Shield game, and his preparation has often been missing a Shield game to be ready for an Australian call-up, so they monitor these things.
“He hasn’t played five tests in a row, so we won’t know how it will come together, but I can assure you there are very few who are as diligent as he has been for the last decade.
“It is an unknown territory, but he couldn’t be better prepared. I don’t think there’s a better backup in world cricket at the moment. We’ve got a very useful player to come back in.”
With Cummins’ chances to return dwindling as the first ball of the Ashes approaches, Boland is the heavy favourite to join Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon in the bowling line-up.
However, with Cummins’ injury comes a fresh wave of concerns about the limited choices and lack of depth in Australia’s lower ranks to be test-ready.
A cross has been put through West Aussie speedster Lance Morris, also ruled out with back surgery, while Jhye Richardson’s availability is rocky while he recovers from a shoulder dislocation.
Even New South Wales’ Sean Abbott, who has spent time around the Test side but has yet to debut, is under a cloud after becoming the first player to be substituted out of a Sheffield Shield game after injuring his hand on Wednesday.
But the opening round of the Sheffield Shield also showed some solid options are waiting in the wings should Cricket Australia need more options.
“I have enormous faith in Shield cricket and the quality of cricket played last week was exceptional,” said McGain.
“The bowling attack, it could be someone like [Jordan] Buckingham from South Australia, who’s been really consistent, moves the ball, bowls good pace. He was on a hat-trick.
“I keep seeing these players bobbing up, and they’re well prepared. The coaching around Shield cricket is as good as it’s ever been and it’s the balance of what they want for the future.
“Every state’s got two or three of these young guys that can come through. I feel really good that Shield cricket’s in a healthy place at the moment.”
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