Captain’s 'favourite' Boland unsure of Edgbaston spot

He is Pat Cummins' favourite cricketer, Marnus Labuschagne says he is one of the most consistent bowlers he has ever seen, and yet Scott Boland concedes he is no certainty to take on England in the Ashes opener.

The extraordinary career of Boland continued during last week's World Test Championship final, finishing as Australia's best bowler in their 209-run win over India at The Oval.

But Josh Hazlewood's looming return from injury means the Aussies have not guaranteed the Victorian a berth at Edgbaston on Friday.

Boland, Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are fighting it out for two fast-bowling spots alongside captain Pat Cummins, who labelled Boland his "favourite player" in the aftermath of Australia's maiden WTC title.

"He always has been, but he just continues to be my favourite," said Cummins, to which Boland could only laugh: "That’s nice of him – he’s mine too."

But while the 34-year-old knows he will play at some stage during the five-Test series given the condensed schedule, Boland is no lock for Friday despite his bowling average of 14.57 from five Tests.

"I don’t know," said Boland when asked about his selection chances. "My job is to keep performing, keep making the selectors’ job hard.

"I’m loving my time in the team. I know at some stage I’m going to play during the Ashes, if it it’s not the first Test, then it's not the first Test"

Boland had been tipped to be a handful in British conditions and lived up to the hype, with his second-innings dismissal of Virat Kohli underlining the fact he has become one of world cricket's most effective bowlers.

In a match where scoring rates hovered around the four-an-over mark, Boland sent down five overs for just eight runs on the morning of day five as India’s last main victory hope Kohli succumbed to the right-armer's relentless pressure when he edged to second slip.

The right-armer finished as the only pace bowler in the match with an economy rate under three per over.

"He’s one of the most accurate, consistent bowlers I’ve ever seen," Labuschagne wrote in his newsletter. "Ball after ball, he hits the right line and length and gives you nothing as a batter.

"It creates a lot of pressure and forces batters to play at balls they’d normally leave, in an effort to get off strike and get the scoreboard moving.

"That’s exactly what happened with Virat in the second innings.

"Scott was hitting a very tight channel for a few overs, and then had the skill to push that delivery a few inches wider than the previous deliveries and got the edge. It’s fantastic to watch."

Boland was even thrown the new ball over Starc for India's second innings, though that has been explained as a tactical move rather than a relegation for the left-armer.

Feedback from county cricket to the Australians has been that the new Dukes ball will swing more after its initial lacquer wears off, meaning Starc's trademark in-swing to right-handers may be more potent when bowling first-change.

Both Boland and Cummins rely more on seam than swing, as does Hazlewood.

Boland still sees his role as keeping the scoreboard tight for the rest of the Australian attack, explaining: "I like to bowl long spells to try and give the other bowlers a bit of a break.

"If I can keep the scoreboard going nowhere it makes the job easier for the bowler at the other end."

It's a method he honed during his years of toil at domestic level for Victoria.

"Bowling on the MCG for so long, I’ve always felt that as soon as I try to chase wickets I go for runs, so I just try and keep my game plan as simple as I can," said Boland.

"As soon as I stray from that I want to go back into it as soon as I can.

"I think it fits in well with the team that if I can play my role in controlling the run rate then it makes Lyon’s job easier, it makes Pat’s job easier."

World Test Championship Final: Australia won by 209 runs

First Test: Friday June 16-Tuesday June 20, Edgbaston

Second Test: Wednesday June 28-Sunday July 2, Lord’s

Third Test: Thursday July 6-Monday July 10, Headingley

Fourth Test: Wednesday July 19-Sunday July 23, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: Thursday July 27-Monday 31, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner