WTC Final | Scott Boland to replace Josh Hazlewood in Australia XI, confirms Pat Cummins

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Australia’s red-ball captain Pat Cummins has confirmed that Scott Boland will replace Josh Hazlewood in the playing XI for the WTC final against India on Wednesday. He also added that having a solid bench strength of pacers will help Australian bowlers go all guns blazing in the fixture.

Australia are set to play against India in the World Test Championship final starting on June 7 at The Oval. The team had suffered a blow ahead of the fixture as Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the match with injury concerns. Micheal Neser was added as his replacement in the roster, However, Australia captain Pat Cummins has confirmed that Scott Boland will replace Josh Hazlewood in the playing XI for the important clash.

"In the past here in England, because the ball does talk a little more, I've seen players get too caught up in trying to take wickets every ball because you've suddenly got the ball swinging and seaming," Cummins stated during the pre-match press conference. 

"Someone like Scotty, it's just a really simple game-plan – you hit your good areas and you stay there all day and hopefully the ball will do the work for you.

"He's had a few bowls over here now and has looked good. But he looks good whenever he bowls."

With four bowlers in their roster and Cameron Green’s ability to send down a few overs, the Australian team has multiple bowling options in the pace department. The team will play six Tests in a stretch of seven and a half weeks and so they will be looking to rotate their pacers. Cummins also confirmed the same stating that he expected the bowlers to go all out. 

“That's the luxury of having bench strength. Hoff' (Hazlewood) was really close to being available for this one so he'll be available for the first (Ashes) Test,” he added. 

"'Ness' (Neser), you see how well he's been doing in county cricket, Sean Abbott's here, so I'm sure we'll be calling on a lot of resources.You don't want to finish off a Test match with something (left) in the tank knowing that you've got other guys fresh that you could bring in a few days later."

Boland’s impressive numbers have earned him a place in the WTC final as he has a bowling average of 13.42 which is the lowest of any Test cricketer who has bowled at least 1000 deliveries since the start of the 20th century. Further, he has scalped 28 wickets from 12 innings with a strike rate of 33.2 in Australia where playing conditions are slightly similar to English conditions. 

The Aussies will expect Boland to step up in the crucial clash and bowl an impressive spell for the side. 

Likely Playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland 

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