Bring on England sledging during Ashes: Australia’s Boland

MELBOURNE: Australia fast bowler Scott Boland has said that the hosts will be unfazed by any England aggression when the Ashes rivals clash later this year.

England’s thrilling home series against India ended in a 2-2 draw this month and was notable for several feisty encounters between the two sides.

Boland, speaking 100 days out from the first Ashes Test in Perth, said on Wednesday that he had enjoyed watching England and India battle it out.

He shrugged off the prospect of Ben Stokes’s England being similarly confrontational during the five Ashes Tests.

“They can do whatever they want when they’re playing,” said the 36-year-old Boland, who has played 14 Tests and took a hat-trick last month in a 3-0 series win in the West Indies.

Australia have been known to give as good as they get down the years, although they have tempered that aggression somewhat under captain Pat Cummins and attempted to tread a fine line.

“I think we’ve been pretty consistent in the way we’ve played since I’ve been in and around the squad the last four years. Nothing much has changed in how we play our cricket,” Boland said.

“Even going forward, it’s just going to be whoever wins those big moments in the games. We’ve got match-winners with the bat and with the ball.

“So yeah, if they want to sledge, that’s fine. I don’t think it’s going to worry our guys too much.”

Controversy swirled over the previous Ashes series in England in 2023 after Jonny Bairstow was stumped by Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey in the second Test at Lord’s when the Englishman walked out of his crease, believing the ball was dead.

Cricket chief Greenberg

The coming Ashes Tests are set to play out in front of big crowds in Australia, with Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg saying that interest in the series between the old rivals had been “off the charts”.

“This will be the biggest sports event in Australia this year,” said Chief Todd Greenberg.

Greenberg also said a slimmer Test calendar could benefit smaller nations because the five-day game was better “where it means something”.

Marking 100 days until the home Ashes series against England begins in Perth, CEO Greenberg suggested quality not quantity was important in keeping the red-ball game viable.

“We’re trying to send countries bankrupt if we force them to try to play Test cricket,” he told reporters.

“We need to make sure we invest in the right spaces to play Test cricket where it means something.

“That’s why the Ashes will be as enormous and as profitable as it is — because it means something.”

England have just completed a thrilling 2-2 home drawn series against India in front of sold-out crowds.

At the same time, New Zealand and Australia romped to easy overseas Test series wins against uncompetitive West Indies and Zimbabwe teams respectively, leaving question marks over the quality of Test cricket in those countries.

One idea is to create two or more divisions of Test cricket to keep it competitive, but Greenberg said he did not have a strong opinion on the ideal number of Test-playing nations.

“Let’s consider what the future might look like,” he said.

But the five-day game remained in rude health in Australia, Greenberg said, where interest in the Ashes had been “off the charts”.

“This will be the biggest sports event in Australia this year,” said Greenberg.

“The interest is quite extraordinary with ticket allocations for 11 of the 20 days on sale already exhausted.”