Boland in frame to take on Indians

AN injury to Josh Hazlewood has all but ruled out the chance of Australia playing three seamers in Thursday’s First Test against India in Nagpur.

The Australian side that left Bangalore for the central city on Monday will be reasonably confident there’s a traditional turner waiting for them, rather than a green top like the one prepared for the 2004 Test at the old Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground.

Australia won that match – and the series – and the old ground was replaced by the new Vidarbha stadium soon after.

Australia is not in the best position to exploit what could be the best chance for the seam bowlers on the tour with Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green all ruled out of bowling in the First Test.

Scott Boland now looks certain to play his first Test outside Australia, and even Lance Morris comes into frame for his Test debut.

The third and final game of the Australian summer has proved a costly one for Pat Cummins’s bowling colleagues.

Hazlewood revealed on Sunday that he had been carrying an Achilles injury since the Sydney game and blamed it on the soft outfield. Starc tore the ligament from his bowling finger in the match and is still recovering, and Green only started bowling again on the weekend after his finger was broken in the New Year’s Eve match against South Africa.

He is an outside possibility of being able to bowl.

“We haven’t put a clear line through him on the team sheet,” coach Andrew McDonald said late last week.

“So, I wouldn’t say he was in discomfort when he was bowling. He has made some significant steps forward in the last couple of days. So, there is still an outside chance, everything going well, he might be on the team sheet.”