It’s still up in the air who will share the new ball with Mitchell Starc in Friday’s first Ashes Test, but Brett Lee has a clear opinion: let the debutant rip in first.
Steven Smith, standing in for the injured Pat Cummins, kept everyone guessing on Thursday. Asked whether Scott Boland or Brendan Doggett would start proceedings, he replied: “We’ll see in the morning – or hopefully, maybe two mornings.”
Doggett, 30, swings it away at decent pace and has done most of his Sheffield Shield work with the shiny ball for South Australia. Boland, by contrast, often opens for Victoria in domestic cricket yet has become a miserly, stump-hitting option first-change for Australia, taking 62 wickets at 16.53 from 14 Tests.
Lee, speaking at a Fox Cricket function, reckons the simplest way to settle a debutant’s nerves is to give him the thing he knows. “Maybe that’s the best thing for his nerves,” he said. “If they lose the toss tomorrow and they’ve got to bowl first, then Steve Smith might go, ‘Alright mate, you haven’t got time to get the nerves. Take the brand new ball and shape a few away.’”
The former quick reminded everyone Doggett has not come from nowhere. “It’s not like he’s just been picked out of the blue. He’s been around the squad now for a long, long time. He’s trained with the guys, he knows the guys very well personally. He’s had a couple of really good Sheffield Shield seasons back-to-back, so he’s done the work and he’s earned that opportunity.”
Lee then flipped from mentor to motivator. “But when you walk out there tomorrow at 10.20am, it doesn’t matter. All that hard work is now going to be transformed. Take that nervous energy, take that pressure, take that opportunity, and hopefully he gets a bag of wickets.
“The thing with Scott Boland is that he can bowl anywhere: I reckon he’d get the ball to seam off ice, he’s so good.”
Smith sounded equally upbeat after watching Doggett train on Perth’s extra-bouncy surface. “He gets the ball down at nice pace, stands the seam up,” he said. “Hopefully, whenever we bowl, he can get the ball in the areas we know that he can. If he does that, I’m sure he’s going to create plenty of chances.”
Friday’s match will be Australia’s first Test to feature two Indigenous players, Doggett joining Boland in a five-man attack stretched by Josh Hazlewood’s side strain and Sean Abbott’s ankle niggle. Michael Neser, the unlucky quick, carried drinks in the last series and may do so again.
Curator Isaac McDonald has promised “pace and bounce”, the kind of strip that makes bowlers feel six inches taller. Lee advises a patient, fuller length. “You’ve got to bowl a lot fuller, that five-metre length, over here in Perth,” he said. “The teams that get excited when the ball flies through [to the keeper] generally get punished, because nothing goes on to hit the stumps. [Aim for the] top of off, and that means a fraction fuller if it’s a wicket that’s quite bouncy.”
In short, Australia have a decision: bank on Boland’s proven metronome or tap into Doggett’s fresh new-ball swing. Either way, the contest shapes up nicely, and England’s openers know the greetings will be lively.
