Boland, Doggett named in Aussie squad for World Test Championship final

Jarred Cross
Jarred Cross Published May 13, 2025 at 1.30pm (AWST)

Indigenous quicks Scott Boland and Brendan Doggett have booked their flights to Lord's for the ICC World Test Championship final against South Africa, as Cricket Australia confirms their 15-player squad.

The Australian men's side is eyeing back-to-back trophies in the still-fresh addition to world cricket's calendar after getting over India in the 2023 final ahead of their most recent Ashes tour of the UK.

Australia will take their same squad to the West Indies for a three Test series in the West Indies from June 26, following the final.

Boland played a solid hand in Australia's first rise to Test Champions producing figures of 5/105 with the ball at The Oval in London.

Recent history suggests the Gulidjan seamer is likely to miss out on a spot in the starting XI behind long-time first-choice bowling quartet Mitchell Starc, Australian skipper Pat Cummins, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon and right-arm pace mainstay Josh Hazlewood - for whom Boland has acted as an injury replacement over the bulk of his Test appearances since debuting in 2021.

Brendan Doggett during an Australian team training session at Adelaide Oval in December last year. Image: Dave Hunt (AAP).

Hazlewood and Cummins come into the side on return from injury alongside fitness-proven allrounders Cameron Green and Australian summer debutant Beau Webster.

Green and Webster's inclusion give selectors added options for seam-up overs in the middle overs.

Off the back of a player of the match performance in South Australia's drought-breaking Sheffield Shield victory over Queensland in March, Doggett has been selected as a travelling reserve.

With an outside chance at selection for the final, Doggett could become just the fifth Indigenous Australian to play Test cricket, behind Boland, Jason Gillespie, Ash Gardner and Faith Thomas.

Doggett appears to have further proven his stocks as the Australia's fifth pace option in the opening matches of the English Country season after recent exposures to the Test frame in extended squads.

The Worimi man took 9 wickets across his first two Country matches with Durham in April.

Boland's most recent form with the ball has been impressive.

In his final two Shield matches for the summer the 36-year-old took 10/102 against NSW and 7/122 against Doggett's South Australia after a dominant 10/76 to help Australia clinch the Border-Gavaskar trophy in January.

Boland featured in three of the five Tests across the series, ending with 21 wickets.

It helped Australia qualify for the final against the Proteas, who booked their spot via three straight two-match series wins against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Last month, South African frontline quick Kagiso Rabada was cleared to play in June's final after serving a one-month period of ineligibility after testing positive for recreational drug use earlier this year.

Having all-but confirmed their place in the final, Australia secured it with a comprehensive 2-nil Test series win in Sri Lanka during February.

"The team finished the WTC cycle with an impressive series victory in Sri Lanka following an equally strong summer in defeating India for the first time in a decade," head selector George Bailey said on Tuesday.

"Those series capped a consistent performance across the two-year cycle and now presents us with the incredibly exciting opportunity to defend the World Test Championship.

"It means a lot to the group to reach the final and they are very much looking forward to the challenge South Africa will present at Lord's."

The World Test Championship final begins June 11 at Lords in London.

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