Australia Test legend hails Scott Boland's iconic MCG debut but says selectors are likely to return to Josh Hazlewood or Jhye Richardson for the SCG Test
Aussies face ‘harsh’ selection call: Ponting
Scott Boland's iconic Ashes-winning spell could incredibly mark his final act in Test cricket, believes Ricky Ponting, who suggested the Victorian is still behind both Josh Hazlewood and Jhye Richardson in the fast-bowling pecking order.
The MCG has had its share of breathtaking moments but Boland's magical performance will live long in the memory after the hometown hero decimated England in a scarcely-believable performance that clinched an Ashes victory before the nominal halfway mark of the series.
The debutant had a five-wicket haul just 19 balls into his second-innings spell – the equal fastest in Test history – and had a sixth wicket two balls later. His four-over return of 6-7 saw him clinch the Johnny Mullagh Medal (named for the star allrounder of the 1868 Aboriginal XI tour of the UK) as the player of the match.
It was a perfectly scripted honour for only the second Indigenous man to play Test cricket, and the fourth overall alongside Faith Thomas, Jason Gillespie and Ashleigh Gardner.
Yet Australia have already shown their willingness to put pragmatism before sentiment in this series, having left out Richardson for the third Test after he claimed a match-winning five-wicket haul in Adelaide.
Both Michael Neser and Hazlewood (on the mend from a side injury) are also expected to be available, while captain Pat Cummins has flagged the possibility of leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson making his debut at the SCG, traditionally the most spin-friendly of the Australian Test venues.
"That could conceivably be the last Test that he plays," Ponting, speaking to cricket.com.au on Tuesday, said of Boland.
"It's staggering to think. He's almost 33, he's just taken six for seven. Hoff (Hazlewood) has got to come back, Jhye's probably ahead of him in the pecking order as well.
"If there's any worry at all with (Hazlewood) – which one do they pick out of Richardson and Boland? That's going to be the big selection point I think.
"If Hoff's not available, I think you've got to go back to Jhye. In the pecking order of things, he was selected before Boland for Adelaide – I think that's the fair thing to do.
"It wasn't like Jhye bowled badly in Adelaide either, he got five wickets in the second innings. On the pecking order it probably deserves to be Jhye, but it would be harsh on Scotty."
As it stands, Boland's Test bowling average sits at 7.85.
His selection for this Test had come as a surprise but he lived up to the tag of 'MCG specialist', one he has earned through standout efforts for Victoria in recent years.
The famed venue however was at first unrecognisable for the 32-year-old, whose dominant Sheffield Shield performances at the 'G have come in front of modest crowds.
"What I've been doing for the last five, six, seven years – I didn't want to change any of that," said Boland, whose stunning second-innings figures came after retuning 1-48 off 14 overs in front of 57,100 on the first day.
"The crowd makes it hard and I sort of felt a bit foggy in my thinking in the first innings. I wanted to work my way through that. I felt a lot clearer in the second dig."
While Boland might not hold his place for Sydney, pace partner Mitchell Starc is firming to play all five Tests despite coming into the series as the least certain of Australia's first-choice attack to hold his spot.
Ponting on Mitchell Starc's 'wobble seam': HCL Vantage Point
Ponting had been among those to emphasise the importance of the left-armer being able to swing the new ball to maintain his place in the side, a key factor in his performances in both Brisbane and Adelaide.
Yet in Melbourne the ball hardly deviated in the air for either team's bowlers, with Starc noting that renowned swing king Jimmy Anderson had been forced to rely instead on seam movement.
"The way we put it last night was that if Jimmy's not swinging it here, then I certainly can't swing it here," Starc, the series' leading wicket taker with 14 scalps at 19.64, told SEN this morning.
Instead, the 31-year-old gripped the ball differently and looked to bowl more 'wobble-seam' deliveries in a bid to find lateral movement rather than swing.
It worked perfectly as he deceived all three of Zac Crawley, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes with balls that moved off the pitch from right to left, as did his hat-trick ball to Joe Root that narrowly missed his outside edge late on day two.
"(Starc was) not looking to bowl the traditional inswinger to right handers that he normally bowls, he had the seam angle a bit more towards the slips – it looked he was trying to bowl a bit more of an off-cutter," explained Ponting.
"That was the one that got Crawley, the one he got Malan with nipped back and even the hat-trick ball was the same.
"He's had Hazelwood and Cummins to learn it off, because they're not great swingers of the ball either and both of them have developed that wobble seam, scrambled seam type delivery.
"To have those guys to learn from is gold. That's what the best teams do, they learn from each other and teach and coach each other.
"He's in the latter part of his career but he's still developing new tricks."