Relentless Boland stars on Sydney seamer, third umpire under fire over contentious calls as Aussies rip through India

Scott Boland owns the MCG but he may have added SCG to his growing property portfolio after ripping through India on day one of the fifth Test. 

Boland mesmerised the batters on a rare Sydney seamer with 4-31 from 20 overs to put Australia within touching distance of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by bowling India out for 185.

Australia were reduced to 1-9 at stumps from the last ball of a tricky three-over spell late in the day after a fired-up Jasprit Bumrah nicked off Usman Khawaja for two.

Third umpire dramas made for an eventful day’s play for the sell-out crowd of 47,566 with Joel Wilson controversially ruling Steve Smith grassed a catch that the fielder said he “100%” did not drop before parrying it to Marnus Labuschagne from the first ball Virat Kohli faced in the morning session.

Wilson was in the spotlight again in the third session when he ruled Washington Sundar had gloved a bouncer from Pat Cummins to Alex Carey in similar circumstances to last week’s contentious Yashasvi Jaiswal dismissal at the MCG.

Sam Konstas had walked down the pitch from the first ball of the innings to tonk Bumrah to the mid-wicket boundary and they were engaged in a slanging match in the final over when the Indian spearhead accused the teenage opener of time wasting.

Bumrah had the last laugh, running towards Konstas as he roared in celebration after Khawaja’s edge to second slip as he gave India hope that they can hit back on day two after the home side had dominated the first three sessions of the match.

The tourists were in disarray before the Test with captain Rohit Sharma dropped despite the team rolling out the official line that the struggling opener had “opted out” of the match with Bumrah taking over the reins. 

The legend of Scott Boland grows

Boland would walk into 11 of the 12 Test-playing nations and be assured of a start every match he’s available. 

But when you have Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ahead of you in the pecking order with all three slightly younger than you, it can make for a stop-start career. 

The 35-year-old Victorian reached the 50-wicket milestone in just his 13th Test when he bagged four scalps at the SCG on Friday, enhancing his already impressive average to 18.82.

As always, he hit a relentless line and length, jagging the ball back into right-handers and away from lefties, giving them no respite to free their arms as he often beat the bat to thump into their thighs, midriff and painful points in between. 

After Mitchell Starc snagged KL Rahul cheaply with a flick to Sam Konstas at square leg for just four, Boland struck in his first over when Jaiswal snicked to debutant Beau Webster at third slip on 10 to leave India 2-17.

He could have, should have, would have Kohli next ball if not for the third umpire’s contentious call to give him not out 

Shubman Gill failed to make the most of his recall for Rohit, nicking Nathan Lyon to Smith at slip from the last ball before lunch and Boland ended up getting Kohli for 17 when he edged to a diving Webster. 

From 4-72, India plodded along before Boland went bang bang by removing Rishabh Pant for 40 and then Nitish Kumar Reddy next ball when he was caught in two minds between playing and leaving, and ended up getting caught by Smith.

Ravindra Jadeja burned a needless review when he was trapped in front by Starc for 26 with India at 7-134 and Sundar followed 13 runs later.

Prasidh Krishna, in for the injured Akash Deep, only added three but Bumrah slapped a quick-fire 22 to lift India to 185, their fifth team total below 200 for the series.

No-catch decision probably wrong but process right 

Smith was adamant he managed to keep the ball above ground when he dived to catch Kohli’s first-ball nick and flicked it up to Marnus Labuschagne to complete the catch. 

With no “soft signal” rule in place anymore, the decision was left entirely to Wilson in the third umpire’s replay booth and after watching several angles of the incident, he claimed to have been able to see the ball touch the ground before it flew up to the gully fielder.

“100%. No denying it whatsoever but the umpire’s made the decision, we’ll move on,” Smith said in an on-field Fox Cricket interview on the way into lunch when asked if he had kept his fingers under the ball. 

The problem with catches like these is that both viewpoints can be right. 

Smith obviously believed he had caught it – he celebrated straight away, jubilant with the astonishing sequence of events which had led to what he thought was going to be a Kohli golden duck. 

But the third umpire has to make a call and in his opinion, the ball had just scraped the “hallowed turf” of the SCG as Smith’s right hand failed to grasp the six-stitcher cleanly. 

Ultimately, the fate of the batter is reliant on the expertise of the person holding the camera and the strength of the technology to zoom in from a great distance to present a definitive verdict. 

Deja vu with Washington dismissal

Wilson was the focal point again in the final session when Sundar was given out in similar fashion to Jaiswal’s crucial dismissal late on day five of Australia’s fourth Test win at the MCG. 

The long-serving Trinidadian official implored the TV producer to keep going back “slowly, slowly” as he scrutinised the vision from as many angles as possible before saying he could see “a clear spike” even though Snicko’s audio indicator had only raised a fraction as the ball went past the glove. 

Bangladeshi umpire Sharfuddoula gave it not out and Cummins and Carey were not sure before calling for a review and former England captain Michael Vaughan said Wilson should have stuck with the on-field decision.

“I think sometimes the third umpire is within his right to say I’ve looked at everything, I’m not 100% sure,” he said on Fox Cricket.

“I don’t think there’s enough evidence there to suggest that the ball has touched the glove.” 

Pant looks smart after casual dismissals 

Pant copped plenty of stick for his twin dopey dismissals in Melbourne – his “stupid, stupid, stupid” ramp in the first innings and pulling a half-tracker to deep midwicket in the second.

But this time around he put a high price on his wicket as he lasted 149 minutes and 98 deliveries with several of them striking him in the helmet, shoulder, arm and torso.

He only hit three fours and one six when he advanced at Webster’s medium-pacers and swatted him over the long-on boundary as he tempered his aggression to put the team first in what turned out to be India’s top score of 40.

SCG pitch shows signs of life

After being demoted to the unofficial ranking of the worst pitch in Australia for being low and slow, the SCG surface was full of life on Friday.

Starc quickly realised in the opening over that there was no swing about so he and Cummins pulled their length back to bang the ball into the green-tinged wicket. 

It was the perfect kind of surface for Boland while Webster showed he was more than capable at this level with 13 overs of medium pace which looked far more threatening than anything Mitchell Marsh had dished up in the previous four Tests as the team’s designated all-rounder.

Webster could have had a wicket on debut but finished with 0-29 after Lyon fumbled a sharp chance in the gully.