He bowled 24 balls to the English champion as Australia’s lead was slowly whittled away. Forget landing them on a handkerchief, Boland was aiming at a piece of confetti.
Not once did Root take a run from the balls landing outside his off stump, then consistently angling back with Boland’s favoured in-ducker. Increasingly, Root tried to take off for a quick single as soon as bat met ball.
The only ball that did waiver from Boland’s chosen target was the fuller, 133km/h teaser that sent Root on his way. But this was no fishing expedition.
You could forgive Root for missing the slightly fuller delivery after the five previous balls beat his outside edge, jagged back into his midriff, took his inside edge and trapped him on the crease.
The reality was Root was simply beaten by an absolute peach that rattled his front pad and was tracked to clip the top of leg. No shame. Plenty of company there.
Boland’s incision did not kill off England immediately, as Jacob Bethell batted with the control and composure the tourists have so sorely lacked this summer.
Nor did Root’s scalp trigger the flurry Boland enjoyed this time last year with six second-innings wickets and man of the match honours against India.
It did knock over England’s best though – Boland well and truly earning Root’s prized wicket for the first time since the final Test of the 2021-22 Ashes.
It ended a streak of 172 runs for Root from Boland’s bowling, after four cheap dismissals in the pre-Bazball era.
And it continued the 36-year-old’s love affair with the SCG.
Boland might have the keys to the MCG – where his 21 wickets have come at an average of 13.95 – but he knows where the spare is kept in Sydney, too, with his 20 wickets in the harbour city costing 12.85.
The ability of Boland and Mitchell Starc to shoulder the heaviest workloads of the Ashes rang loud and true in the fifth Test, particularly when a broken Ben Stokes limped off mid-over early in the day.
For all the talk of England’s marauding pacemen and demolition experts with the bat, it is the two locals with a combined age of 71 who have prevailed.
Boland claiming Root’s wicket in his inimitable fashion was as deserving of a trophy as any.
