Joe Root vs Scott Boland: Head to Head record in Test cricket ahead of the Ashes 2025-26 Test series

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The impending Ashes 2025-26 series, commencing in Perth on November 21st, 2025, sets the stage for a compelling individual showdown between Joe Root, the prolific English maestro, and Scott Boland, the accurate Australian fast-bowler.

This match-up embodies the series’ tension: Root, the world’s premier Test batter, attempting to break his elusive century drought in Australia, versus Boland, the home-turf specialist, intent on proving his 2023 English struggles were an anomaly. Their rivalry has already been sharply divided by geography, and the return to Australia will test Root’s ‘Bazball’ aggression against Boland’s relentless line.

Root will enter the Ashes with a towering reputation, underpinned by a year-long purple patch that has seen him cement his position as the world’s top-ranked Test batter. His last series, the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against India in July 2025, was a masterclass in scoring, where he amassed 459 runs across five Tests at a remarkable average of 57.37, including three stunning centuries.

Root’s form in the Bazball era has been defined by his willingness to attack and score quickly, but also his ability to revert to rock-solid defence when required, a versatility that has seen him accumulate over 13,000 career runs. Despite this global dominance, the Australian grounds remain his final frontier, where his career average dips to 35.68 and a Test century remains cruelly absent across 14 matches. The Australian media has already attempted to rattle him by labelling him Average Joe in Australia, setting the stage for Root to silence his critics with a performance that could define his legacy.

Root enters the Ashes as the No. 1 ranked Test batter in the world, having enjoyed a historically prolific 2024 and maintained his form into 2025.

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Scott Boland is the epitome of a home-ground specialist, whose inclusion for the Perth Test is vital given the injuries to senior Australian quicks. While he struggled in the 2023 Ashes in England, taking wickets at an expensive cost, his record on Australian soil is simply phenomenal, boasting 49 wickets in 9 home Tests at an average of just 12.63.

Boland’s recent competitive action came in the Frank Worrell Trophy in July 2025, where he secured 6 wickets in his single Test appearance against the West Indies, highlighted by him becoming the first Indigenous Australian to claim a Test match hat-trick.

His game relies on metronomic accuracy, challenging the batters’ stumps and nicking the outside edge with subtle seam movement extracted from the firm Australian pitches. Boland has acknowledged he has a point to prove after the English media dismissed him as no fear to the English batters, and his immediate objective is to exploit Root’s tendency to play the ball late and guide it behind the slips on these quicker surfaces.

Boland is renowned for his metronomic accuracy and remarkable strike rate on Australian soil. His spot in the XI for the 1st Test in Perth is virtually guaranteed due to injuries to key quicks, giving him an immediate shot at the Root wicket.

Joe Root vs. Scott Boland Head-to-Head (Test Cricket)

The contest between Joe Root and Scott Boland in Test cricket has been a dynamic one, sharply contrasting their encounters in the 2021-22 Ashes in Australia with the Bazball dominated 2023 series in England. Overall, Boland has successfully dismissed Root 4 times across their meetings, which is a strong result for the Australian pacer.

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