Original Title: The Ashes 2025-26: Can Australia bowler Scott Boland dominate England once again?
Original Content: Can Australia bowler Scott Boland dominate England once again? Or do Ben Stokes' side have his number after the 2023 Ashes in the UK? Scott Boland's nickname goes back well before requests for a statue to be erected in his honour in Melbourne gathered pace. “He was built a little bit like the shape of a barrel,” says Nick Jewell, Boland's coach at Frankston-Peninsula Cricket Club on the outskirts of Melbourne. “He had a lot of talent but was very young and very raw - nowhere near professional enough in the way he presented himself.” Eighteen years on, Boland, who has gone by 'Barrel' ever since those teenage days, was always expected to play a key part in the upcoming Ashes series. Injuries to Australia team-mates Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have only pushed him further to the fore. The back-up bowler with the best average since 1914, kept on the sidelines by three all-time greats, is now a guaranteed starter. He nearly missed the start line altogether. Boland weighed around 115kg when arriving at Frankston before Jewell, who was still playing state cricket for Victoria at the time, set his player a challenge: lose 5kg over the next two months and he'd be picked in the first XI. “Not long after we had that deal, I walked past his car and had a look in,” Jewell says. “There were still some KFC and McDonald's wrappers. I reminded him not very subtly about our deal. “He swore to me they were old ones and he hadn't cleaned his car.”
“He was built a little bit like the shape of a barrel,” says Nick Jewell, Boland's coach at Frankston-Peninsula Cricket Club on the outskirts of Melbourne. “He had a lot of talent but was very young and very raw - nowhere near professional enough in the way he presented himself.”
Summary: News overview discusses whether Scott Boland can repeat dominance over England in the Ashes, noting his journey from a barrel-shaped rookie to a key Australian bowler amid team injuries and a long-standing nickname.