Boland prepares to return to South Africa, a place he 'can't remember'

The quick played the last three of his 14 ODIs in South Africa in 2016 and is set to return with the Test squad next month

If you ask even the most knowledgeable of cricket fans about Scott Boland's white-ball international career, very few, if any, would know he even had one, let alone any details.

As the man himself prepares to tour South Africa with Australia's Test squad, he admitted he had scarcely any memory of his last tour there in 2016 when he played the last of his 14 ODIs.

"I can't remember anything," Boland said in Melbourne on Thursday. "To be fair, I know on field we didn't go that well. We had a really inexperienced bowling attack. But apart from that, I can't remember anything. I don't remember where we were. I don't know if I've just binned that memory because it didn't go well. But I feel like ten years ago was a long time."RelatedLabuschagne survives for SA Tests, Connolly included

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After a little prompting, he remembered vague details of Cape Town, where he played his last ODI, mainly because of how beautiful the ground was.

It was a brutal tour. Australia's 2015 World Cup winners and current big three, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, were all missing. Boland played alongside John Hastings, Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie and Dan Worrall, who is now qualified to play for England. Australia got thumped 5-0 and Boland only played three matches in the series despite leading Australia's averages with five wickets at 34.20 and having the best economy rate of 6.33. But he has not played another white-ball game for Australia since and went five years without playing an international until his Test debut in 2021.

He returns to South Africa as one of the best Test bowlers in the world, albeit still unable to get in Australia's first-choice XI having run the drinks in the most recent Tests against Bangladesh when the big three all played. At 37, he said he returns a far better bowler than he was at 27.

"I haven't changed too much in terms of what I do, in terms of like how I bowl," Boland said. "But I think the biggest change is in preparing for games, knowing my body better, getting all those little things right."I think out of all the white-ball games I've played in the last couple of years, I feel like I've only had to go to yorkers and slower balls maybe once or twice. I think a few years ago, maybe I practiced them. Coming in now, knowing that my focus is more on what I can do with a new ball at the start, hopefully everything goes well and I sort of bowl out before [the death]"Scott Boland

"I think ten years ago, I probably over-trained and would go into games, especially the back-end of series, fatigued. And I think now, obviously being a bit older, wanting my career to go for as long as I can, sort of prioritising the way I train, how I train, and sort of mapping it out a bit better, so I can get to the end of series and still have a little bit of energy in the tank, and then I think I just know my game so much better. And I think a lot of guys say that as they get older, they wish they knew what they did. Same for me at 37, if I knew what I [do now] at 27, I probably would have performed better."

Case in point is how he has been managed heading towards South Africa. Boland did an eight-week block of bowling in the lead-up to the Tests in August only to end up not playing. It was decided in the immediate aftermath with Australia's selectors and medical staff that he would have a two-week rest before doing another three-week block of training leading into a lone domestic 50-over match, where he will play alongside Glenn Maxwell for Victoria on Friday against New South Wales at the Junction Oval before flying to South Africa on Sunday.

"I was pretty keen to have two weeks of no bowling after that series," Boland said. "I felt like I was bowling really well in the nets and centre wickets up there. So when that opportunity passed, and I focused on what my re-load looked like, I was going to be bowling around 10, 12 overs this time of the year before going on Sunday, so I think this game fit in really well."

Boland is well-versed in doing long bowling builds to prepare for a Test series he knows he is unlikely to play in. He described it as "tricky" mentally but he also takes it in his stride.Scott Boland has played 14 ODIs and three T20Is for Australia but none since 2016•Getty Images

He is unsure how much he will play in South Africa. Australia have included a second spinner to their squad in Matthew Kuhnemann, wary that Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer took 14 wickets between them in Durban in 2022. But that Test was on a tired surface in late March. In the most recent Test in Durban, in late November of 2024, Marco Jansen took 11 for the match including 7 for 13 in the first innings to bowl Sri Lanka out for 42.

With three Tests being played at the start of the season in October, there is a distinct possibility Australia could field a four-man pace attack with Boland, Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood playing together for the first time since they bowled West Indies out for 27 in a pink-ball game in Jamaica last year.

In the meantime, Boland will prepare with his first domestic 50-over game in 18 months and only his third in the last three years. Practicing yorkers and slower balls has not been high on his agenda.

"I think out of all the white-ball games I've played in the last couple of years, I feel like I've only had to go to yorkers and slower balls maybe once or twice," Boland said. "I think a few years ago, maybe I practiced them. Coming in now, knowing that my focus is more on what I can do with a new ball at the start, hopefully everything goes well and I sort of bowl out before [the death]."