Australia fast-bowler Scott Boland said he feels in a really good spot after having played enough cricket to now be ready for leaving a mark in the upcoming second Test against India at Adelaide. Boland is a big favourite to play in Adelaide after fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to side strain. “Obviously I haven’t played a heap of cricket in the start of this season, but I feel like I’ve played enough cricket to feel like I’m in a really good spot. My body’s feeling really good now. I had a couple of niggles that were a little bit sore, but knee and foot are feeling really good and I’m confident how the ball’s coming out.”
“Our last net session in Perth was for me and Josh Inglis, we went pink ball for quite a few overs. So getting it in the hand then and then obviously the overs we can get in probably tomorrow by the look of this weather will be valuable as well.”
“Then Adelaide on Monday, then just a normal prep before a game. So have a good bowl two days before the game and then just prepare to play,” said Boland to reporters after day one of the tour game between India and Prime Minister’s XI was washed out due to rain at Manuka Oval on Saturday.
The pink-ball match in Adelaide serves as a crucial time for Australia to square the five-match series after losing to India by 295 runs at Perth. Boland, who last played a Test in July 2023, admitted Australia needed to go back to the drawing board, but felt wholesale changes won’t be made in Adelaide.
“There’s definitely not panic stations in our change rooms. There’s obviously going to be some chats around individual performances and everyone wants to perform really well every game they play. But it’s like, we’ve lost one game. It’s not toys out of the cot, I don’t think.”
“We’ve spoken as a team about our plans for all the different Indian batters. I won’t tell you those, but we’ve got pretty set plans. They might have a little bit of a tweak after the guys have seen them again from Perth, because obviously (Yashasvi) Jaiswal batted really well there.”
“KL Rahul batted well in the second dig as well and really digged in. So we’ll probably have a chat over the next week and our plans might slightly change, but I’m pretty confident what we did in the first games was good.”
“I think our bowlers bowled really well as well. Maybe the only difference was that the Indian bowlers got a really nice long break between their first innings and second innings where our break wasn’t as long,” he concluded.
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