For four years, not at all unreasonably and surprisingly successfully, England and Joe Root effectively put a big red bullseye on Scott Boland.

After dismissing England’s greatest batsman four times in the first 74 balls he bowled to Root, Boland then had to send down another 282 to do so again.

Wednesday’s skewering of the English veteran – in the most Scott Boland fashion imaginable – was worth the wait.

Of all the tourists’ Bazballers, it had been their most sensible who gave Boland the most grief in the 2023 series.

Root memorably ramped the big Victorian for six on his way to an undefeated century at Edgbaston and led a T20-style assault that belted Boland out of the contest after just two Tests – for a return of two wickets at an average of 116 and an economy rate of 4.91.

Boland has had a fine, typically unrelenting Ashes on Australia’s bouncier pitches, and played every Test this summer in the absences of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. An expensive,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald