- Scott Boland ready to play MCG Test for Australia
- Boland has been battling injuries throughout 2024
- A slight change in exercise routine caused problems
Australian fast bowler Scott Boland has revealed how a small change to his gym workout routine almost ruined his cricket career by seriously injuring his knees.
Boland, 35, is preparing to make a triumphant return to the Test team in front of his home MCG crowd on Boxing Day, three years on from his breakout debut at the famous ground in 2021.
However, the pacer has had an impactful year battling knee and heel injuries that have left him sidelined from the sport he loves.
Boland says the problem started when he decided to change his preparation for a T20 match in January while playing for the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.
“It was pretty much my fault because I changed one little thing in my gym program to feel a little more explosive in those three T20 games I played,” Boland said. News Corporation.
“My body felt good during that (first) game, so I kept doing these weighted jumps in the gym and they’re just not good for the knees.
Scott Boland (pictured playing for Australia against India in Adelaide this month) almost derailed his career by adding weighted jumping to his workout routine.
Boland says he made the change because he wanted to be a little more explosive, but he only ended up hurting himself.
‘I didn’t really have any preparation for them. I just started doing and doing and doing. Then my knee and foot hurt a little.
‘Then it is simply related to the tendon. “So now I know I’ve talked about it a lot with the S&C (strength and conditioning staff), that we still had a plan to bring them in, but it’s just to manage my body better.”
Boland was doing weighted jumps with a trap bar (a bar with a diamond-shaped frame that people can stand on while doing a variety of lifts) to feel more energized during the buildup to a match.
“Trap bar, 10 kilos each side, just jumping as high as you can,” he said.
“I just wanted to do a little basic gymnastics session and I was doing it and my body felt good during those games.
“But just as I kept doing it, my knee hurt a little bit and then my foot hurt a little bit.”
The Victorian can rightly claim to be one of Australia’s unluckiest players this century.
His average of 20.42 is the fifth best of any Australian bowler with 40 wickets or more.
Boland (pictured with wife Daphne) is set to return in front of his home MCG crowd for the Boxing Day Test.
But such is the dominance of Australia’s big three quicks – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – that he has only been picked for 11 of the 34 Tests since his spectacular debut on Boxing Day 2021 against England.
Hazlewood’s latest injury is good luck for Boland.
“I would be surprised if he (Boland) doesn’t get another chance at some point,” Cummins said of Boland ahead of the third Test against India at the Gabba.
‘(We’ve told him) it’s just about getting ready for the MCG because there’s a good chance we’ll need you.
‘History suggests that there is always some form of natural wear and tear throughout a series of tests.
‘So the good thing is that I probably played a Test earlier than I thought in the series. He has shown that his level is still very high.
“You know he’s going to take wickets against those guys, so it’s about trying to prepare him for the last two Test matches.”