He bowled 24 balls to the English champions as Australia’s lead slowly dwindled. Forget about landing them on a tissue, Boland was aiming for a piece of confetti.
Not once did Root run away from balls landing outside his off-stump and then he consistently leaned back with Boland’s favorite in-ducker. Root was increasingly trying to take off for a quick single as soon as the bat met the ball.
The only ball that dropped off Boland’s chosen target was a fuller, 133km/h teaser that sent Root on his way. But this was no fishing trip.
You could forgive Root for missing a slightly fuller delivery after the five previous balls beat his outside edge, drove back into his belly, took his inside edge and trapped him at the crease.
The reality was that Root was simply beaten by an absolute peach that rattled his front pad and was tracked down to clip the top leg. No shame. There is a lot of company.
Boland’s cut didn’t kill England straight away as Jacob Bethell struggled with the control and composure the tourists have so sorely lacked this summer.
Root’s scalp also failed to trigger the flurry Boland enjoyed this time last year with six second-innings wickets and man-of-the-match honors against India.
Still, it outclassed England’s best – Boland well and truly taking Root’s prized wicket for the first time since the last Test of the 2021-22 Ashes.
It ended Root’s streak of 172 runs off Boland’s bowling after four cheap dismissals in the pre-baseball era.
And it continued the 36-year-old’s love affair with the SCG.
Boland might hold the keys to the MCG – where his 21 wickets have come at an average of 13.95 – but he also knows where the reserve is stored in Sydney, with his 20 wickets in the port city costing 12.85.
Boland and Mitchell Starc’s ability to carry the heaviest workload of the Ashes rang loud and true in the fifth Test, especially when a broken Ben Stokes limped off at mid-wicket earlier in the day.
Despite all the talk of the English raiders and demolition experts with the bat, two locals won at a combined age of 71.
Boland, who argued that Root’s inimitable wicket was as deserving of a trophy as any other.
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