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Mitchell Starc is at risk of becoming the quick under pressure to keep his spot for the Ashes after losing the new ball to Scott Boland in the World Test Championship final.
With Boland pushing to force his way into a full-strength Australian attack for the first time, the Victorian opened alongside Pat Cummins against India on Saturday.
That left Starc to be used as a first-change bowler for only the second time since 2015.
The Dukes ball is known to swing more once some of the lacquer rubs off, with Starc a proponent of the moving ball and having also bowled first-change with it once in 2019.
But when handed the ball after six overs on Saturday at The Oval, Starc was Australia’s most expensive with 0-45 from seven overs as India attempted to chase down 444 in the fourth innings.
Australia face a fast-bowling selection squeeze for Friday’s first Ashes Test, with Josh Hazlewood expected to overcome a side injury and be available for selection.
Hazlewood has been limited to four Tests in the past two-and-a-half years, and was put on ice for the World Test Championship final to be fit for the Ashes.
It is obvious four quicks into three spots will not fit, and selectors are likely to rotate between the pacemen based on conditions.
A similar approach was adopted during the 2019 Ashes with James Pattinson and Peter Siddle also on tour, leaving Starc to only play the one Test.
A similar fate would be a cruel result for Starc, who has been a mainstay of Australia’s attack for the past four years and taken 93 wickets at 26.46 since that Ashes series.
The 34-year-old is well aware he is likely to be targeted by England’s aggressive batting style, but is happy to go for runs if it means he takes wickets.
His point of difference was also laid bare in his first-innings figures of 2-71, when he again leaked the most runs at 5.19 an over but got Virat Kohli with a near unplayable rising delivery.
Starc said on Friday he was happy to be that aggressive bowler for Australia in the Ashes.
“They probably will go after me,” Starc said.
“It’s been plenty of times in the past I’ve gone for more runs than the other guys.
“The role that I play is more of an aggressive role to bring in those stumps and bowl those fuller lengths and create those chances.”
Starc’s cause could also be helped by his batting, given Nathan Lyon, Boland and Hazlewood would make for a long tail from No.9 down.
Starc’s batting average of 28 in England is impressive to the point that it is higher than both David Warner’s and Usman Khawaja’s.
© AAP
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