Australian pacer Scott Boland joins Durham county for 2024 season

In a major development for Durham County Cricket Club, star Australian pacer Scott Boland was announced as their latest signing for the 2024 County Championship and T20 Blast. The 34-year-old pacer is said to be available for the club until the end of July 2024. This will mean that he will be competing in the first half of the Championship season as well as Blast fixtures.

The pacer has enjoyed good spells for Australia in international cricket ever since making his debut during the 2021–22 Ashes. Since then, Boland has played 10 Tests for Australia, where he has taken 35 wickets. Furthermore, his repertoire in first-class cricket is quite well-known as well. In exactly 99 games, Boland has managed to take 349 wickets. 

After the announcement that Boland would be joining Durham, the pacer came forward to talk about how he felt ahead of the move. He stated that he was very excited ahead of the move to Durham, and he also talked about the team’s goals after they recently achieved promotion.

"I'm very excited to be joining Durham for the upcoming season, after achieving promotion in 2023 I'm keen to add my skills to an already strong squad and help Durham contend for the Championship in Division 1," Scott Boland was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. 

"I'm eager to join a strong bowling group and work alongside some new faces. I feel the time is right for me to play county cricket, I've always wanted to and am grateful for Durham for giving me the opportunity,” he added.

Scott is a huge signing for us: Marcus North

Following the announcement of Scott Boland, Durham's Australian director of cricket, Marcus North, took centre stage and stated how Boland will be enhancing the squad quality even further and how much of a big boost his arrival can be. 

"Scott is a huge signing for us as we look to challenge in Division 1 next season. A proven International quick bowler was something we identified to further strengthen our fast-bowling group. Scott is someone who we have been talking to for some time and to have secured the signature of one of the best international bowlers outside of the T20 World Cup shows Durham Cricket's intent moving into 2024,” North said.