SA vs AUS, WTC Final 2025: Pat Cummins urges Scott Boland to keep patience, says 'still got lots of...'

Australia skipper Pat Cummins has urged Scott Boland to keep patience as the Victoria bowler will serve a place on the bench in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa. The one-off contest set to start on Wednesday (June 11), will be a high-voltage clash as the Proteas look to end their 27-year ICC trophy drought. However, Boland won’t be part of the Australia set-up (unless a concussion sub is used) in the clash as Josh Hazlewood got the nod in the Playing XI announced on Tuesday.

Cummins urges Boland to keep patience

“I think you know by having a squad of fast bowlers hopefully we can extend all our careers for an extra couple of years. So it's a really unfortunate Scottie misses this. But the kind of message to him is don't feel like you're running out of time. We've still got lots of time, hopefully, in his career,” Cummins said in a pre-match press conference.

Before the final, Boland made a public statement on his fitness, announcing he was good to go and injury-free after 18 months. On the other hand, Josh Hazlewood had to leave the Royal Challengers Bengaluru camp midway through the IPL 2025 due to a shoulder issue. However, he managed to recover in time and traveled to England after RCB’s IPL triumph.

For Boland, the wait to return to the Australian team continues while age takes a toll on him. He is in his mid-30s but has been urged to keep patience with a huge Australian summer in prospect where England will be the visitors in the Ashes.

Australia Playing XI:

1. Usman Khawaja, 2. Marnus Labuschagne, 3. Cameron Green, 4. Steve Smith, 5. Travis Head, 6. Beau Webster, 7. Alex Carey (wk), 8. Pat Cummins (c), 9. Mitchell Starc, 10. Nathan Lyon, 11. Josh Hazlewood.