Scott Boland’s late-career rise gathered fresh momentum on Monday in Kingston, where the 36-year-old seamer became only the 10th Australian man to claim a Test hat-trick. Australia needed just 90 minutes to bowl West Indies out for 27, sealing a 176-run victory and a 3-0 sweep of the Frank Worrell Trophy.
The chief damage came from Mitchell Starc, whose new-ball burst returned 6 for 9. Boland, however, again justified the four-seamer gamble that saw a fit Nathan Lyon omitted for the first time in 12 years. His three wickets in consecutive balls – Justin Greaves caught behind, Shamar Joseph lbw on review and Jomel Warrican’s off stump uprooted – completed a rout that left bemused home supporters filing out before lunch.
“There was talk of cutting it in half,” he told reporters while clutching the match ball. “100 Tests and 400 wickets. He can have it.” Starc had already collected that souvenir milestone two days earlier; the camaraderie was genuine.
Selection squeeze
Despite numbers that place him in rarefied company – a bowling average of 16.53 is the best by any bowler with 50 or more Test wickets in the past century – Boland has featured in only 14 of Australia’s 39 Tests since his Boxing Day debut in 2021. The reason is simple: Pat Cummins, Starc and Josh Hazlewood remain automatic selections whenever fit.
“He would have played so many more Test matches in another team,” Starc said. “But every time he comes in he is on the money, like we saw this week. He is never far from the perfect length.”
With the remaining three Ashes Tests squeezed into a 23-day block later this summer, rotation is possible. Even so, Boland may again find himself mixing cordial more often than bowling with it.
Classic Boland dismissal
“Today was three classic Scotty Boland wickets,” Cummins said. “Three right at the stumps or not far away. Really happy for him. He has spent a lot of time running the drinks in the past year or two when the other guys are fit, but he is always quality when he comes in.”
Peter Siddle, the previous Australian to achieve a Test hat-trick, marked the moment with a brief text: “Welcome to the club.”
Historical footnote
Only Glenn McGrath has played Test cricket for Australia as a fast bowler at an older age over the past 60 years, and Boland’s record after that milestone stacks up favourably against almost everyone. Yet statistics alone guarantee nothing. Australian selectors have dropped one of the senior quartet just once to accommodate him, preferring known chemistry to data.
That leaves Boland simultaneously indispensable and expendable – a bowler with figures of a century-great but opportunities of a fringe player. The hat-trick will live in highlights reels; whether it wins him a sustained run remains the unanswered question.
