The chants of "Boooooland, Boooooland" were reverberating all over the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), as the local lad, Scott Boland, had a fairytale outing on his Test debut for Australia in the third match of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22 against England.
Boland blew England away with stunning figures of 6/7 in the second innings to help Australia restrict the tourists to 68 and hand the hosts massive innings and 14-run victory in the opening session of day three of the third Test in MCG.
The pacer said that nobody on the Australian side expected that they would win the Boxing Day Test against England this quickly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
With the massive victory in the third Ashes Test, Australia took a 3-0 lead in the ongoing five-match Test series and retained the Ashes urn against England on Tuesday (December 28).
Boland was the hero of the final day, having returned with jaw-dropping figures of 6/7 on his Test debut at the MCG. He needed just 19 balls to pick up his maiden five-wicket haul, equalling the record of Australia's Ernie Toshack and England’s Stuart Broad for the fastest five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
He also won the Mullagh Medal for his performance on his debut against England.
Boland said after the match: “Can't really believe. We thought we had a chance of winning today when we came in, but just not so quickly. I came to know on Christmas Eve, and had a lot of support from teammates and family. It was a big step up from anything that I have played, and I knew it would be tough. I want to thank the crowd for all their support over the last three days, really appreciate it.”
He concluded, “There were about 17 of us who learned about that tour of 1868, and my family and I are very proud about winning this award. I would like to thank the coaches for getting this chance to play on my home ground, and would also like to thank my parents, my wife, and my two kids.”
The fourth Test of the series will be played in Sydney from January 5 onwards.
(With ANI Inputs)
