'I just want to make selectors' decision as hard as possible' - Pain-free Scott Boland hopes to play WTC final

Published - 06 Jun 2025, 11:25 IST | Updated - 06 Jun 2025, 11:37 IST

Scott Boland said that he is not experiencing any pain in his body for the first time in 18 months. The right-arm pacer wants to give the selectors a happy headache when they assemble to select Australia's playing XI in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa, which begins on Wednesday, June 11, at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Boland and Josh Hazlewood are fighting for a spot in the XI, especially with concerns over the latter's fitness after he broke down in each of his last two Tests.

Boland, 36, won the Player of the Match award in his last Test appearance, which was against India in Sydney during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was not picked in Australia's squad for the tour of Sri Lanka, where the Men in Yellow fielded just one quick and three spinners in each of the two Tests. Boland has not played any cricket since Victoria's second-last Sheffield Shield fixture of Australia's domestic season in early March after battling ongoing knee soreness.

"I'm really happy with how my body's feeling at the moment. Pain-free for probably the first time in about 18 months. So it's feeling really good," Boland was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"My goal for probably the last two months was just get myself and my body in the position where I can put my hand up and be ready to go if it goes my way. I probably felt like at the back end of the Shield season, my knee was sort of, not wearing away, but wasn't going how I wanted to go. And I didn't feel like I was bowling how I wanted. But now I feel like I'm in a really good spot that I can bowl how I want to bowl. It's pulling up really well, so that's all I can do, and I just want to make their decision as hard as possible," he added.

Boland, however, lauded Hazlewood's craft, acknowledging his contributions to the champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

"I felt like I had a couple of really strong games. But Josh is obviously a world-class bowler. He's one of the best bowlers in the world coming off a really good IPL. So I'm sure he'll be wanting the same thing here. Obviously, we all want to play but there's probably not room for all of us," Boland noted.