"Surprised Us How...": Australia Coach On England's Tactics vs Scott Boland

Australia men's coach Andrew McDonald revealed on Thursday that, while he anticipated England to be aggressive in the opening Test of the Ashes, the way they handled pacer Scott Boland "surprised" his squad. Before the series, Boland has 33 wickets at an average of 14.57 and an economy rate of 2.32 from eight Tests. The hosts, on the other hand, threw him off his length from the start at Edgbaston, including through Joe Root's lap shots. The right-arm seamer averaged 5.65 runs per over and took only two wickets in the match.

"We'd seen the way they go about it, they are ultra-aggressive," McDonald told reporters, as quoted by cricket.com.au.

"But I think Scott Boland, that match-up probably surprised us how aggressive they were against Scott. So that's something we can look at and find better ways through," he added.

"We feel as though the way we went about it was planned and we executed what we wanted. There was some different things thrown at us at different times that clearly surprised us, which is no doubt like any other game of cricket. And then you've got to factor in the surface. Day one was potentially the best day to bat, the sun was out and they put some pressure on us. We can no doubt learn from that," McDonald said.

McDonald also admitted that Mitchell Starc, who was benched in favour of Josh Hazlewood, may have "potentially" played a part at Edgbaston. He did, however, add that Australia selected Hazlewood's (3/109 in two innings) and Boland's "line and length" above Starc's swing because to the conditions.

"It's conditions-based, and I've said that from the get-go. We feel as though, looking back on it, potentially Mitch could have played a role, there's no doubt about that. But line and length potentially