Australia has added Scott Boland to their squad for the third Ashes Test in Melbourne.
Victoria pacer has been in fine form in the ongoing Sheffield Shield. He picked 15 wickets in 2 games against New South Wales with an exceptional average of 10.80. Boland has represented Australia 14 ODIs and 3 T20Is, though he hasn’t made his Test debut yet.
“Boland has been training with the team in Adelaide and joins the squad while the medical team assesses the fast bowling group following the second Test victory,” Cricket Australia released a statement on Tuesday.
Notable that Josh Hazlewood missed out on the second Test at Adelaide due to side strain while the skipper Pat Cummins missed out after being identified as a close contact of a Covid-19 positive. So Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser replaced them. While Pat Cummins has been given a green signal to play the Boxing Day Test, Hazlewood is also likely to return to XI.
But Australia would like to assess the workload of Mitchell Starc as the left-arm pacer bowled 75 overs in the first two Ashes Tests. So the medical team would assess his fitness for the next few days to declare his availability for the iconic Boxing Day Test.
England is currently trailing the series by a 0-2 margin. To regain the Ashes, they need to win all three remaining Tests. It will be interesting to see if they also rotate their pacers to manage their workload.
Australia’s squad for remaining Tests:
Pat Cummins (C), Steve Smith (VC), David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Swepson
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