Vics on top, Boland destroys SA in Shield
Victorian quick Scott Boland has thrust his name in front of national selectors by putting his side in charge at the MCG with a devastating spell against South Australia in their Sheffield Shield clash.
A Tom Cooper century helped the Redbacks to 4-231 at tea on Saturday's opening day, but they lost 6-13 after the resumption of play to be all out for 244.
Boland did the damage, taking 5-8 in four overs after tea to finish with 7-54 off 17 overs.
The Vics cruised to 0-72 at stumps, with Travis Dean making a quick-fire 56 and Marcus Harris more circumspect on 16.
In an inspired spell Boland removed danger man Cooper for 118, after dropping him at mid-on when he was on 80, then terrorised the SA tail.
The performance rocketed Boland to the top of the Shield leading wicket-takers' list with 22 from five innings.
"I feel like the ball's coming out really well," he said.
"I got a couple to reverse swing and got a couple of lucky nicks but I didn't really change anything. I just tried to hit the wicket pretty hard.
"I think everyone has ambitions to play for Australia at any point in their career, if it happens it happens.
"But there's so many good quicks in front of me, so I'm not holding my breath.
"If I keep taking wickets and we keep winning games then I'll be happy."
Cooper's well-crafted ton came off 147 balls and included 18 fours and a six.
It came on the heels of his 178 against Queensland in a game he had been dropped for before Callum Ferguson withdrew injured.
"It was nice to get some runs again but unfortunately the day didn't end quite as we would have liked," Cooper told AAP.
"We went into tea in a good position after fighting hard in that middle session.
"I think there's still a little bit in the wicket so hopefully we can come out and get a few early wickets on day two."
Having won the toss, the Redbacks were in early trouble at 3-45, but Cooper and skipper Jake Lehmann steadied the ship with a 98-run partnership.
Lehmann (56 off 101 balls) was in fine touch but dragged a wide delivery from Boland back onto his stumps 20 minutes after lunch.
In his return match from back surgery last November, James Pattinson bowled his first spell since the 2016-17 Shield final and finished with 0-32 from eight overs.
