Not since a country kid from Narrabri nicknamed pigeon answered the call for wickets during the then fiery furnace known as the 1994 West Indies cricket tour have Australia needed a bowling superhero to step forward and make the world take notice.
Could Mitchell Starc be that hero?
While you must win with spin if India is to be conquered, pace is not without its place.
In 2004 an Australian team that included Shane Warne, the spin king on a baked beans and vegemite toast diet, still had to rely on their pace brigade to stifle the locals and win a series in India for only the second time in 30 years.
Sure, that team included Jason Gillespie and the aforementioned Glenn McGrath, a duo considered the best Australian pace combination since Dennis Lillee and Geoff Thompson.
For better or worse, Australia’s bowling strength still lies in our pace attack.
And this is where the early damage can be done to a potentially dangerous though brittle looking Indian batting card.
And like his superhero namesake in Tony Stark, Mitchell may need to become the Ironman wicket taker of this tour.
Starc is coming off the kind of summer that pop songs are written about. It was a glaringly rose coloured, heady season where success came in all forms of the game.
The Beach Boys could not have penned a more pure summer of enjoyment.
But if Australia represents a Beach Boys sweet summer paradise for pace men, India is the atonal dark and dingy Jazz club opposite.
India in India is an entirely different, much more difficult and much less harmonious and melodic task.
The wickets will no doubt be slowed to a pace more akin to bowling on sand and the flat, low Indian conditions are as heartbreaking to quick bowlers as a flat ocean is for surfers.
Indeed India will challenge Starc and his fellow pace exponents who all, like Will Ferrel in Talladega Nights, ‘just want to go fast’.
But Michael Clarke and his fellow selectors should place Starc at the vanguard of this challenge.
Australia will need the bulk of overs and a more than fair share of wickets rotated through Xavier Doherty, Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell or Steve Smith.
But Australia still need an effective initial attack that could hopefully make early inroads into a batting line-up that has recently done its best Violet Crumble impersonations when faced with the Aussie quicks.
It’s the way bowlers shatter batsmen that matters and Starc as the Australian Ironman should be given a chance at the first hammer blow.
The flat decks of the sub continent will not let balls out of their dusty grasp without back breaking effort, but Starc’s natural combination of height and pace should still have an early effect and rattle many top order bats.
And as Ian Chappell has pointed out, Starc’s natural movement into right-handed batsmen will trouble the likes of the erratically brilliant Virender Sehwag and the rising Virat Kohli. These are two players that Australia need to keep in check if they are to keep India’s totals from resembling Sydney housing prices.
But Australia also needs a pure wicket taker, and at the moment Starc is possibly the most dangerous one they have.
A lot will depend on the ability of Starc to get the voodoo-esque mystery of reverse swing happening in his favour, not to mention the small matter of being selected in this bowler rotating, trigger happy world we live.
But if he does get on the park, as I believe he should, he could be the one to call out the ‘win with spin’ truism as the lie Australia need it to be.
This current series in India looms as a challenging litmus test for Mitchell Starc. And if successful it could define the career trajectory of one of Australia’s most exciting pace prospects.
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
Not every ball. His effort ball tops 150kph.
Varun
Guest
Spot on mate and I like your team
Deccas
Guest
Did starc even bowl against the saffers until perth? hint, the answer is no, he didn't pattinson played brissie and broke down in Adelaide. This comment is completely nonfactual.
pope paul v11
Guest
Starc played at Perth. The selection of Hastings instead of Bird was the main issue there.
Rob Barrow
Guest
@nmj164 i agree with you 100%. Firstly Starc is a very exciting talent and i think he will do great for the ashes. And yes why bother on allrounders when a proven one doesn't exist. I would also give Khawaja extended run, he has never had this and if he was given half the tests that cowan has had in a row then he would be established. I also wish all the best for Marsh and hope he comes back strong next season after injury. This all-rounder obsession from the Australian selectors stems from the 05 Ashes when Flintoff had a blinder of a series. It was almost like Cricket Australia collectively thought "they beat us with an all-rounder, if we had one we would've won the series, so we've got to get one ourselves." Unfortunately though guys like Flintoff don't come around that often. An all-rounder must have one discipline that they are good enough to be picked for, the other is the bonus that sees them picked ahead of someone else. Otherwise you have a sub-test standard bowler bowling to test batsmen, and a sub-test batsmen facing test attacks. (the Andrew McDonald experiment, anyone?)Its doomed to fail. You end up with someone who is expensive, doesn't take wickets and doesn't score consistent runs, especially when needed. All the great all-rounders of the past; Davidson, Botham, Kahn, Dev, Hadlee,a young Steve Waugh etc could be picked on the basis of one discipline.
Daz
Guest
I'm a big fan of Pattinson but he hasn't bowled a lot since being injured. I think Birds accuracy and wicket taking ability is a must. So my 3 pace men for the 1st test are Siddle, Bird and Starc. Johnson unlucky. I thought he would never get back near the side but he has improved with help from Lillee.
lolly
Guest
Starc is a good bowler with a lot of potential to get even better but why do people say he bowls at 150kph? He doesn't.
lolly
Guest
Hauritz was replaced by Clark in the fourth and fifth test team of the 2009 Ashes series. Why make stuff up? And by the way, Watson barely bowled in the 2009 Ashes.
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
cheers Freddy, Note to self, dont rely on perceived good stored memory! Google is all of our friend! ps wonderful towns!
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
thats weird, i cant believe i did that! must have been having one of my Geoff Lawson daydreams! what? doesnt everyone!?!
nmj1654
Roar Rookie
As much stick as he cops, Starc is the only one of Australia's up and coming pace brigade who seems to have that real X factor. Cummins is a fantastic bowler, as is Pattinson, but every now and then Starc produces a ball to rival the best in history, those inswinging yorkers at 150km/h. If he can sort out the rubbish he bowls around it and reduce his economy rate he'll be one of Australia's best ever pacemen. If he doesn't, he won't have fond memories of India. I think all-rounders are a waste of time - unless they are sufficient in either category to play as a specialist batsman or bowler, they shouldn't be included. Pick the best 6 batsmen in the country, the best wicketkeeper, and your best bowling lineup according to the conditions (e.g two spinners in India, four pacemen at the WACA). I think a valuable template could be Watson Warner Hughes Khawaja - give him an extended run, he just needs time to adapt to Test cricket Clarke S Marsh (for lack of a better specialist batsman - this allrounder phase is killing me) Wade Starc Pattinson Siddle Lyon
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
Phew!!:)
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
So would i Hairy Pear, i think he deserves a crack at 'em. I just reckon (or is that hope maybe?) Starc is riding an old fashioned wave of confidence and could do some damage early.
Kurt Sorensen
Roar Guru
Agree with you on Bird Sydney Kiwi, it would be interesting to see how he would go if given a chance.
Lroy
Guest
Is that a joke? Mitchel " I cant hit a wheat silo from 5 yards Johnson" should get picked ahead of Starc? Did you even see the cricket this summer? If Starc hadnt of been rotated / rested / redacted / (whatever that ridiculous thing is) we would have done a lot better against the Boks in Perth.... Johnson is averaging about 30 runs per wicket isnt he? When was the last time we won a series with a guy with an average like that? (hint-never) Have you forgotten the 2009 Ashes where we dropped Hughes, to accomodate Watson so he could fill in for Mitch cos he was having a sulk about his mum??? We even dropped our only spinner Hauroitz for the Oval test for this guy.... that worked out well didnt it?? Christ, I cannot believe the guy was ever allowed to play for Australia again. Serving up Mitchel Johnson to the Indians will be welcomed like a nice tandoori chicken, they will chew him up, and spit out the bones.
rl
Guest
well, Henry Lawson did mention he though the likes of Henriques or Christian would go well there. Moses in in, so lets hope he and you are right.
rl
Guest
+1
Atawhai Drive
Guest
Starc, Pattinson, Siddle and Lyon the bowlers, Henriques the all-rounder. Looks like Clarke will have to bowl a fair bit as well.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
You got your wish Kurt, Starkers in.
Dinny Navaratnam
Roar Guru
Johnson should play ahead of Starc based on him having played Tests in India. Starc does have height but bounce from the pace bowlers won't be a significant factor on the Indian pitches.