Australia unfazed by England’s aggression before Ashes, says Scott Boland

Fast bowler Scott Boland says Australia will ignore any on-field aggression brought down under by England this summer, 100 days from the first Ashes Test in a tour that looks set to break records.

England and India completed a thrilling drawn series last week across five Tests marked by tension between the two sides, prompting Indian captain Shubman Gill at one point to describe the hosts’ behaviour as not “what I would think comes in the spirit of the game”.

Boland watched the series and thought the end of the final Test was “as good an hour of cricket as you’ll see”, but he rejected the notion that Australia will be tempted to draw on cricket’s dark arts, even if England pursue a similar approach in the Ashes as they did against India.

“They can do whatever they want when they’re playing,” he said. “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.”

Throughout Pat Cummins’ captaincy, Australia’s men’s cricket team has tried to tread the fine line between competitiveness and respect for their opposition.

Despite accusations from England players that Jonny Bairstow’s crucial dismissal last Ashes was against the spirit of the game, Cummins said in June “we want to play hard and fair and I think over my tenure we’ve got it right just about every time.”

Boland said Australia won’t change their approach this summer. “It’s just going to be whoever wins those big moments in the games, and we’ve got match winners with the bat and with the ball,” he said. “So yeah, if they want to sledge, that’s fine, I don’t think it’s going to worry our guys too much.”

The 36-year-old fast bowler skittled England for 18 wickets at 9.6 in the 2021/22 series, highlighted by his 6-7 at the MCG. Having added a hat-trick against the West Indies to his list of achievements last month, he said he has become an even better bowler, particularly as he has started to focus each year on performing for Australia’s home Test summer.

“Even though I’m in the twilight of my career, I’m still learning about what’s helping me and what’s getting me to be able to perform 100% every time,” he said.

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More than 424,000 tickets – including 75,000 from overseas fans – have already been sold for the five-Test series which begins in Perth in November. Ahead of last summer’s highly anticipated series against India, 114,000 had been sold by the same time.

Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said ticket sales for Perth are seven times what they were this time last year, a venue which set crowd records on the first two days against India. Eleven of the 20 days of the coming series have already sold out.

“The Ashes is an enormous brand in itself, I think the brand of cricket that England and India just played has been wonderful to watch, and they’re going to bring a real contest to this country,” Greenberg said. “We’re looking forward to welcoming our English friends with open arms, but we also want to take them on.”

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