Australia take cautious approach to side strain recovery, Boland expected to be fit after SCG tumble
Boland did not bowl after tea, having claimed two wickets during the opening session as England fell to 36 for 4, but would have been able to return late in the day if needed. He may not be used again in the first innings if Australia wrap it up quickly but should be available for the final innings of the match.
Coach Justin Langer said after the third day’s play in Sydney that Hazlewood would likely be held back for Australia’s upcoming white-ball cricket which includes an ODI series and one-off T20I against New Zealand followed by a T20I series against Sri Lanka.
“Unfortunately Josh hasn’t come up, hopefully he’ll be right for the white-ball game,” he said. “It’s been really tough on him, he’s been really hanging out to play this Ashes like everyone. At this stage if I was a guessing man I’d say he probably won’t play the next Test.”
Langer added that Richardson, who has been nursing a lower leg problem since the second Test where he took a five-wicket haul, would be in contention under lights in Hobart.
“To have guys like Michael Neser and Jhye… they’ll both be in contention. It’s exciting to have these options with a couple of our players going down.”
“I thought our first two hours, similar to what we’ve seen this whole Test series, was as relentless bowling as I’ve seen from Australian cricket,” Langer said. “Then as we’ve been waiting for throughout the series, a great fightback. I thought Ben Stokes was courageous with his side [injury], Jonny Bairstow a brilliant Test hundred, he got a rough knock on his thumb.
“England had the better of us in the second two sessions. That will be good for Pat and his captaincy development. It can’t always be rainbows and butterflies as he’s probably found so far. We’ll talk about how we are going to attack England in the morning but so far he hasn’t put a foot wrong and don’t think he has today, either.”
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo