Ashes 2025-26: Can Australian bowler Scott Boland dominate England again?

Boland fulfilled his part of the bargain. His journey to the top of cricket is something of a throwback – a far cry from the paths of the academy and state underage teams.

“It was hard to believe his transformation over two years,” Jewell says.

“He’s very much like a hitman. He’s very calm, calm and collected.

“You rarely see a change in his attitude or behavior whether good or bad.

“Sometimes, you think as a coach, ‘Am I going to be able to handle this guy?’ But you saw it in the changes in his playing style and performance.”

Success in the Melbourne grade system and years of taking wickets in the Sheffield Shield opened the door to a first foray into white-ball cricket.

A specialist yorker at the death overs, Boland played three T20 matches and 14 one-day internationals in 2016, around the same time he learned of his indigenous roots through his maternal grandfather which would take him on a tour of England with an Indigenous eleven in 2018.

However, the start of Boland’s Test career was a statistical phenomenon.

Sixty-two wickets at an average of 16.53. At home these wickets cost just 12.63 runs.

No Australian with as many players as him – neither Shane Warne, nor Pat Cummins, nor Mitchell Starc, nor Josh Hazlewood – could break this record in the history of the game.

“Warnie used to talk about developing a new ball every year,” says his state coach Chris Rogers, a former Australia opener.

“It’s as if Scotty discovers something else every year and keeps adding to his weapons and skills.”

“Bowling and delivering under pressure has been a skill he has had for a while,” he adds.

“The white-ball game has changed, and it’s probably more about the changes you make and the sequences of different deliveries across overs and so on.

“From that point of view he then moved on to Test cricket.”

After 14 Tests, Boland is the most accurate bowler in the CricViz analyst database.

He may not bowl or hit the ball at frightening speeds, but thanks to the speed and bounce of Australian pitches and the new Kookaburra ball being incorporated, he is accustomed to finding enough movement to beat strikes or overcome their defence.

“When we measure in terms of lines and lengths, it’s always at the top of our lists,” Rogers says.

“Every time he gets the ball it’s almost the same.”

While a hat-trick against the West Indies earlier this year has been added to the list of achievements, it was the Australian sporting legend’s six on debut.

Haseeb Hameed’s delicate offside, Jack Leach’s over-the-shoulder throw, Jonny Bairstow pinned lbw, Joe Root’s edged drive, Mark Wood following on, Ollie Robinson stumped at third slip.

Six for seven at The G.

“We didn’t know much about him,” Leach recalls.

“It seemed like he was moving the ball the perfect amount in both directions and was finding the rim.

“I remember how hard it was, hitting his length so hard.

“It wasn’t about his speed but how hard he hit the pitch and made the ball do the talking.”