Scott Boland believes he's better prepared for what England's batters will throw at him this summer if he gets the chance to play in the Ashes after he was attacked relentlessly in his two Tests during the 2023 series in the UK.
Boland has the lowest Test bowling average of anyone with more than 50 wickets in the last century after a hat-trick in Jamaica reduced his figure to 16.53, leaving him sixth on the all-time list.
While he took 18 wickets at 9.55 in his debut Ashes series against a pre-Bazball England team in 2021-22, he took just two wickets at 115.50 in the 2023 Ashes where he played just the two Tests at Edgbaston and Headingley.
Speaking at an event in Melbourne on Wednesday that marked 100 days to go before the first Ashes Test in Perth, Boland said he is unsure how many Tests he will play this summer given he still remains behind Australia's big three - Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood - in the pecking order when all are fit. But he believes he's ready to handle whatever approach England take to him if he gets the chance.
"I've obviously thought about it a lot since it happened in 2023," Boland said. "But I still think there were times in England where I bowled pretty well and just didn't get a wicket. I'm a better bowler than I was back then. I'm going to be in our conditions that I know really, really well. I'm hoping to put in some good performances."
Boland expects the conditions to be vastly different to England if the pitches in Australia play as they have done over the last four summers, which he believes will help Australia's bowlers against the Bazball brand.
"They're going to play aggressively," Boland said. "If the wickets stay similar to what they've been over the last few years, I think we're going to be in the game all the time.
"There were little parts of the England tour last time, when the ball sort of moved around and favoured the bowlers, but generally over there, the wickets have been a bit flatter. And then when you come to Australia, certainly the last three or four years, they've been bowler friendly."
Boland, like many Australians, watched parts of the recent England-India Test series with great interest. But the difference in conditions is highlighted by the fact that England and India combined for a record 21 centuries in the five-match series.
In 15 Tests in Australia since the last Ashes series down under, batters have made a combined total of 19, with the same India side scoring just three across the five Tests last summer and only one in the last four. Australia's batters, who have been under the microscope for their recent output have scored 15 of those. England scored just one in the 2021-22 Ashes, which was made by Jonny Bairstow in Sydney, but only four batters in Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Ben Stokes are likely to return.
Despite the likelihood of seam bowler-friendly pitches this summer, Boland is not anticipating that he will play in a four-pronged pace attack at any stage despite being picked ahead of Nathan Lyon in extreme conditions with a pink Dukes ball at Sabina Park in Jamaica last month.
"I hope so, but probably not in Australia," Boland said. "Nathan's one of the best spin bowlers in the world, so I think he can bowl in any conditions. He's probably been the glue to our bowling line-up over the last few years. And then I probably see Greeny [Cameron Green] coming back and bowling a lot more, he obviously hasn't bowled for 12 months, so that probably hurts the chances of four quicks as well."
Boland has not bowled since the Jamaica Test and instead has been working diligently in the gym to avoid carrying any of the knee soreness he battled last summer into the Ashes. Boland said a discussion with Australia coach Andrew McDonald had led to a shift in his gym regime which he believes is paying dividends.
Boland is unsure how many of the first four Sheffield Shield games he will play ahead of the first Test despite not being a guaranteed started in Perth with discussions ongoing between Cricket Australia's high performance team and Cricket Victoria about his playing schedule.
"It's changed a couple of times, but I'm sure over the next few weeks we'll nut it all out," Boland said. "There's so much time between game one and game four, I'm hoping to play two or three."
The second round of the Shield sees a potential match-up between Boland and incumbent Test opener Sam Konstas as Victoria host New South Wales at Junction Oval on October 15, with Konstas fighting an uphill battle to retain his Test spot for the Ashes. Boland knocked over Konstas three times out of four meetings in Shield cricket last summer.
CA has been careful in managing the loads of Boland and other back-up bowlers throughout the summer to keep them fresh in case they are required. But there is a danger of them not playing enough. In 2023-24, Boland was Australia's back-up quick for seven straight Tests but did not play a single game while last year he played three of the five Tests against India when Hazlewood got injured, just as he did in the 2021-22 Ashes.
The lengthy gaps between the first, second and third Tests, and bowler-friendly pitches may create a possibility where Australia's big three can play all three without significant workload issues. But there are only four-day breaks between Adelaide and Melbourne then Melbourne into Sydney which is when Boland will likely be required. Getting him enough cricket to that point will be a challenge if he is carried as the spare bowler in the squad and required to stay with the team in the case of concussion.
There are CA XI and Australia A matches against England Lions in Perth and Brisbane that run alongside the Test matches where there may be opportunities for him to get match overs in while remaining in the same city as the Test squad. But Victoria's last Shield match before the BBL break is at the MCG from December 4-7 while the Brisbane Test is being played. There is no Shield cricket after that as the BBL begins on December 14.
"There's such good breaks in between the first two Tests that gives whoever plays, gives gives them opportunity to really reset, freshen up," Boland said. "But I think going from last year, we had a three-day break in between, we bowled the last session here in Melbourne to the bowling in the first session in Sydney, it's hard work, and probably does take you a session or two to sort of get everything moving again."