Triple M Cricket<\/a>.<\/p>\n ![\"Scott](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/105025635-15414371-image-a-38_1766758851104.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Scott Boland (pictured) admitted that he had never imagined that he would open the batting at the MCG during an Ashes Test<\/p>\n
![\"Boland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/105026173-15414371-image-a-37_1766758844205.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Boland (left) walked out to bat with Travis Head (right) during Australia’s second innings\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I got told I was going to go out there. I think when you’re in that position, it’s only one over and you want to protect your batters. So I was happy to go out there for one over.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gus Atkinson picked up the new ball, while Boland took the striker’s end, as the fans watched on in anticipation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Victoria fast bowler clipped a lofted ball over to short leg, with a huge gasp going up around the MCG, but no one was there to catch it.<\/p>\n
Boland regathered his focus and defended the next three balls well. Each time he swatted away Atkinson’s advances, the Melbourne crowd cheered in celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another nervy moment came again in the fifth delivery of the over, with Boland edging to the slips. The ball carried to Jacob Bethell at fifth slip, but the Englishman couldn\u2019t take the catch, giving the Aussie bowler a reprieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Boland would make England pay for the error, clipping an outside edge off for four to send the MCG into meltdown.<\/p>\n
\u2018I knew I only had to face six balls and I was only going to stay out there for an over,\u2019 Boland said, reflecting on being cheered off the pitch by the MCG crowd.<\/p>\n
\u2018So I knew what my job was and I think when you face the new ball, they’re generally going to pitch it up. So that’s one thing I’m happy to do for the team.<\/p>\n
![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/105029829-15414371-image-a-40_1766758929921.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It came after the Victoria hero took three wickets to help the home side bowl England out for 110 runs<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018I](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/105029831-15414371-image-a-39_1766758924836.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u2018I knew I only had to face six balls and I was only going to stay out there for an over,\u2019 Boland said, reflecting on being cheered off the pitch by the MCG crowd<\/p>\n
Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n
\u2018I don’t really like doing night watchman when it’s about 30 minutes. But for one over it’s OK.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The crowd at the ‘G is amazing. I think they said 95,000, the highest they’ve had for a Test match. Obviously, getting sent in to bat, we didn’t want that result but I think we’re in a pretty good position now.\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite a couple of nervy moments, Boland performed brilliantly in the middle, having also taken three wickets at an economy of 3.33.<\/p>\n
\u2018It was a no-brainer sending Scotty out there to take that last over,\u2019 fellow fast bowler Michael Neser said after the match.<\/p>\n
\u2018I know as a tail-ender that it is our job sometimes to do that sort of role.<\/p>\n
\u2018Scotty, you don’t even have to ask him, he ran down and put his pads on.\u2019<\/p>\n
Up in the commentary box, Aussie great Adam Gilchrist hailed the Victoria star, saying: \u2018He plays his cricket out here like it\u2019s his own backyard.<\/p>\n
\u2018He owns the MCG at the moment it seems.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think Pat Cummins running out was just an inquiry, Boland was off the field when that last wicket fell.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think they were asking if he was allowed to open the batting.\u2019<\/p>\n
Boland had walked out of the tunnel with a big grin etched on his face as the fans cheered their hero.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll return to the crease on Saturday morning as Australia look to increase their 46-run lead on England into day two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Boland admitted that he would never have imagined that he would be opening the batting at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,100,1208,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-373285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-dailymail","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}