Because selectors keep treating him as a replacement instead of a first choice, a five-wicket return on South Africa’s first innings at Gqeberha did not change that: Boland was only in the side because Nathan Lyon was dropped, with the visitors ahead 1-0 in a three-Test rubber. His career average sits below almost every rival, so the pecking order looks backwards. Depth, age and caution explain the gap, and none of them survives a close look at the numbers. That reading is hard to defend.
A Record Few Bowlers Can Match
Boland’s career average of 18.08 across 86 wickets is the best of any bowler who has reached 50 since the Second World War. Wisden’s list from January 2025 showed him as the lone post-war bowler among the ten best averages of all time, on 17.66 at that stage. Only Bert Ironmonger, on 17.97, has a better mark, and he retired in 1933.
In July 2025 he claimed three wickets in three balls against West Indies, which lifted him to sixth in the ICC Test rankings, his best position. Those are the credentials of a front-line weapon, not a squad filler. That is why a place in the XI that depends on someone else missing out feels so odd.
Scott Boland Australia South Africa Test series Selection Logic
Australia won the opening Test in Durban by 214 runs without him. That win gave them a 1-0 lead, which makes the decision to alter the attack at Gqeberha even more telling. For Gqeberha, they went with an all-seam attack and left out Lyon, offering no official reason, although the pitch had a green tinge and the sky was heavy with cloud. Boland found out he was playing only minutes before the toss.
He justified the call quickly. Aiden Markram and David Bedingham fell to consecutive balls, and the hosts ended one day on 97 for 5. Pat Cummins called him the whole package, and one ranking puts him ninth among Test bowlers worldwide. Even so, the selection looked like a response to conditions rather than a verdict on his quality.
The Pace Trio Blocking His Path
Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are the Australia first-choice seamers. Only once have selectors preferred Boland to any member of that group. Starc himself has said Boland would have played far more Tests for almost any other country.
By July 2025 he had been selected for 14 of the 39 Tests Australia played after his debut in December 2021, and Gqeberha is his 20th cap. No comparison of results with and without him could be found. His numbers below stop in January 2026, ahead of this series, while the others are the latest available, with strike rates worked out from balls and wickets.
Bowler | Tests | Wickets | Average | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Scott Boland | 19 | 82 | 18.58 | 38.91 |
Pat Cummins | 75 | 326 | 21.91 | 45.54 |
Mitchell Starc | 108 | 448 | 26.17 | 45.78 |
Josh Hazlewood | 79 | 311 | 23.71 | 51.17 |
Age 37 Shapes His Remaining Window
No Australian quick this old has been picked as a frontline option for decades; he is 37, and the last comparable case dates to the 1960s. His five wickets in Gqeberha placed him second on the list of oldest Australian pacemen to claim a Test five-for, with only Frank Laver, in 1909, ahead of him.
Boland concedes his window is narrowing slightly. He still expects to play in a handful of the crowded fixtures coming in the next year. That raises the stakes for selectors, because every match he misses is hard to win back.
A Regular Role on Seaming Pitches
He should start whenever the pitch favours seam. At 38.9 balls per wicket, his strike rate is quicker than Cummins on 45.5 and Starc on 45.8, and he averages less than all three seamers ahead of him. The tracking data also favours him: 24% of the good-length balls he bowled in the first innings were heading for the stumps, twice the 12% managed by Cummins, who comes next.
The caution is sample size, since he has 20 Tests against between 74 and 107 for the others. Selectors have given no explanation, so this is analysis, not inside knowledge. In the Scott Boland Australia-South Africa Test series, he should be first on the team sheet whenever conditions suit, and not merely cover for injuries.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Scott Boland’s bowling average in Tests?
He averages 18.08 from 86 wickets. That was 18.58 before this series started, and no one with 50 wickets since the Second World War has done better.
How old is Scott Boland and where was he born?
He is 37, born on 11 April 1989 in Mordialloc, Victoria. That makes him the oldest frontline Australian paceman since the 1960s, a distinction rarely handed to fast bowlers.
Why did Australia leave out Nathan Lyon at Gqeberha?
No official reason has been given for the decision. The team chose an all-seam attack, with the surface green and the cloud heavy on the opening morning.
How many Tests has Scott Boland played so far?
Gqeberha was his 20th Test appearance for Australia. He debuted on 26 December 2021, and by July 2025 had appeared in 14 of the 39 matches since.
Is Scott Boland the oldest Australian quick since Ray Lindwall?
Reports describe him as the oldest frontline Australian paceman since Lindwall in 1960. He also ranks as the second-oldest Australian seamer to collect a Test five-for, behind Frank Laver in 1909.