When Scott Boland entered the SCG for the fifth Test against India, there was a possibility it could have been his last for Australia.
By the time he left the field with eight wickets across the first two days, Australia's cult-hero had made a compelling case to remain part of the team's first-choice attack.
Boland's Sydney heroics have not only put Australia on the path to regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but potentially extended his own Test career.
In the past 60 years, Glenn McGrath remains the only Australian paceman to play beyond his 36th birthday.
Scott Boland will reach that mark in April.
There is also a world where Australia play only one out-and-out quick in Sri Lanka and two in West Indies this year.
A World Test Championship final also looks likely at Lord's, but Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins would all hope to be fit to face South Africa.
Boland's late-career charge is the stuff of legend, but selectors have regularly only used him as back up to the big three.
In 35 Tests since Boland's magical debut at the MCG against England in 2021, he has played in 13 of them.
Only once has he been picked when Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood have all been fit and available, in the 2023 Ashes series opener.
If Boland's career was to end without adding many more to his tally, he could consider himself one of Australian cricket's unluckiest men.
Not that Boland would think of himself on those terms, adamant even during this Test that he is fine sitting behind the current group.
But the first two days at the SCG could serve as the strongest argument yet for him to retain his spot regardless of who is fit.
Once picked as a man who could do the hard yards on flat wickets, Boland has proven his nagging accuracy makes him one of the world's most dangerous on seaming pitches.
He has had the ball on a string in both innings, and now has Virat Kohli's wicket five times in five Tests.
Having passed the 2000-ball mark in Test cricket, Boland is now in the top 10 bowling averages in history with 18.25.
That mark puts him above Jasprit Bumrah (19.40), and is the best since Bert Ironmonger (17.97) from the 1930s.
Australia's coach Andrew McDonald insisted after stumps on day two that Boland was as important part of the bowling attack as Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins.
"He's always a genuine consideration Scotty, and every time he pitches up in the Australian colours he delivers," McDonald said.
"We're lucky to have those four quicks in Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Boland.
"The ability to keep them fit all together gives us options. We're not surprised by Scotty's performances.
"Every time he plays he does the job well. His ability to be relentless on a length and move the balls both ways is proving difficult."
But finding a way to fit them in for Australia remains a challenge, with Cummins the captain, Starc a left-armer, Hazlewood their best performer of 2024 and Boland seemingly unplayable.
