Scott Boland's rapid rise to cricketing royalty has not spontaneously happened. Any cricketing tragic would know Boland has meticulously developed his robotic line and length over several years.
Boland leads the 2021/22 summer wickets column with 35 at 11.82 and has 129 at 20.47 from his last four summers, definitely not just a flash in the pan.
Boland finished his first test series with 18 wickets at 9.55. The last bowler to take 15 or more wickets at an average of less than 10 was Jim Laker in his famous 1956 series. Before that, it was Bobby Peel in 1888.
Below I have gone through history and looked at some of the most outstanding debut test series between Australia and England.
8. The arrival of Kevin Pietersen (England 2005)
No cricketer typified the swagger and over-confidence of gen-x like Kevin Pietersen. In every sense of the word, a trailblazer, 'KP' would have stuck out like a sore thumb in the gentleman era of English cricket before World War II.
Arguably the most incredible modern-day English batter, Pietersen was thrown into the cauldron of fire in 2005. With great belief in his ability to wield the willow, Pietersen already had 5,936 First-Class runs at 52.53, including 21 centuries before his test selection.
With peroxide blonde hair dyed in the middle of his hair resembling a skunk, Pietersen walked out to the middle of Lords, 3/18 down facing a fired-up Glenn McGrath...he top-scored with 57 off 89 deliveries. Pietersen polished off three half-centuries in his first three Test innings, suffered a quiet patch in the 2nd and 3rd Test, and finished with man-of-the-match honors with 158 off 187 balls, including seven sixes in the last test to solidify England's Ashes win.
What happened next?
'KP' would go on to win three more Ashes series before retiring after England's 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Mitchell Johnson in 2013/14. Pietersen finished his decorated career in 2014 with 8,181 Test Runs at 47.28, 4,440 ODI runs at 40.73, and 1,176 T20I runs at 37.93.
