“Because you could be Scotty Boland”: Kerry O’Keeffe asks medium pacers to take inspiration from Scott Boland after his Ashes 2021-22 masterclass

Ashes 2021-22: Scott Boland has been on fire in the series so far and Kerry O’Keeffe has had a lot of praise about the Victorian pacer.

The Ashes 2021-22 has already been sealed by Australia, and they are now aiming for a clean-sweep. Australia’s good performance with both bat and the ball is continued in the Sydney test as well. Courtesy of Usman Khawaja’s century, and Scott Boland’s spell, Australia are in a commanding position.

The rise of Scott Boland has been absolutely great in this series. He made his debut in Melbourne and is already a cult hero after 1.5 test games. He took six wickets in the 2nd innings at MCG, whereas he took four wickets in the first innings at Sydney. Boland now has 11 wickets in three innings at an average of 8.27. No bowler in the world has donned such numbers.

Ashes 2021-22: Kerry O’Keeffe hails Scott Boland after his masterclass

Kerry O’Keeffe, the former Aussie cricketer has a lot of praise for Boland. He asked medium pacers to take inspiration from Scott Boland. Boland generally bowls about 130 km/h but has been lethal with his line and lengths. Scott Boland has scalped 15 wickets in just two games of Sheffield Shield 2021-22 this season.

“It sends a message to every medium-pacer around Australia,” Kerry O’Keeffe said on the Fox Cricket commentary.

“If you work to get a command of line and length and accuracy and just a little bit off the seam, you can wear a baggy green, you can play for your country.”

“Even know you’re 128kph or 130kph… whatever road blocks are in front of you, disregard them because you could be Scotty Boland.”

These are actually real-life numbers from Scott Boland in Test cricket 😱 #Ashes pic.twitter.com/BBourDXeQN

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 7, 2022

Co-Commentator Mark Howard asked Kerry if he would pick Scott Boland on the upcoming Pakistan tour as well. Australia will not take more than four pacers on the Pakistan tour. However, Kerry was in full support of Boland.

“I think he goes anywhere given his command of the basics,” O’Keeffe said.

“You don’t want bowlers who give batsmen angles to work with, he gives batsmen no angles, they can’t work him through the gully because he doesn’t give them width, they can’t take him through the leg side because he doesn’t bowl them down there.”