Is Scott Boland indigenous: The SportsRush brings you the top-10 best bowling figures by bowlers on their test debut.
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Australia thrashed England in Melbourne to retain the Ashes 2021-22. England’s bowlers showed some brilliant performances on the day-2 of the game, but Australia completely dominated them. England bundled out for just 68 runs in the 2nd innings, and Australia won the Test by an innings and 14 runs.
Aussie bowlers were on fire, but Scott Boland stole all the limelight. The 32-year-old pacer took six wickets in the second innings and made an incredible debut. Mark Wood became Boland’s 5th scalp in the 2nd innings, whereas he was also his debut wicket in the first innings.
Is Scott Boland indigenous?
Boland became just the 4th indigenous Australian to don the baggy green. Before Boland, only Jason Gillespie, Ashleigh Gardner, and Faith Thomas have donned the baggy green. In terms of male cricketers, he is just the second one. Scott Boland is of the Gulidjan tribe in the Colac area of Victoria. Faith Thomas was the first indigenous cricketer to represent Australia, she made her Australia debut in 1958. Jason Gillespie was the first Australian indigenous male cricketer to don the baggy green.
Boland won the Man of the Match for his exceptional performance in the MCG Test. He scalped six wickets by conceding just seven runs to take six wickets. This is the 22nd best figure on test debut by any player around the world. Australia’s Albert Trott and Robert Massie have the best figures on debut, whereas India’s Narendra Hirwani is at the third position. It is interesting to note that Robert Massie and Narendra Hirwani had record figures in both innings of their debut game.
List of Best Test bowling figures on debut
| Rank | Player | Opposition | Figures |
| 1 | Albert Trott (Australia) | England | 8-43 |
| 2 | Robert Massie (Australia) | England | 8-53 |
| 3 | Narendra Hirwani (India) | West Indies | 8-61 |
| 4 | Lance Klusener (South Africa) | India | 8-64 |
| 5 | Narendra Hirwani (India) | West Indies | 8-75 |
| 6 | Robert Massie (Australia) | England | 8-84 |
| 7 | Alfred Valentine (West Indies) | England | 8-104 |
| 8 | Jason Krejza (Australia) | India | 8-215 |
| 9 | Kyle Abbott (South Africa) | Pakistan | 7-29 |
| 10 | Dominic Cork (England) | West Indies | 7-43 |
Scott Boland also had a strike-rate of 4.0, which is the best S/R by any bowler (minimum 2 overs) on test debut.
4 – Scott Boland (@CricketAus) had a bowling strike rate of four in his second innings of the third men’s #Ashes Test; it’s the best SR by any player (min. 2 overs) in a men’s Test innings in their debut match. Superstar. pic.twitter.com/JaMqc2flrU
— OptaJason (@OptaJason) December 28, 2021
List of Best Test bowling strike rate on debut
| Rank | Player | Opposition | Strike Rate |
| 1 | Ernest Toshack (Australia) | India | 3.8 |
| 2 | Scott Boland (Australia) | England | 4.0 |
| 3 | Jacques Kallis (South Africa) | Bangladesh | 5.4 |
| 4 | Harbhajan Singh (India) | West Indies | 5.4 |
| 5 | Richard Benaud (Australia) | West Indies | 5.7 |
