Mitchell Starc isn't soft, but he needs to fake it 'til he makes it

Australians love a good storm in a teacup, and a big one flew the way of Mr Shane Warne after he served up Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc a verbal smackdown on the Channel Nine coverage on Wednesday.

Practically everyone came to the tea party – Starc’s girlfriend Alyssa Healy, Darren Lehmann, Warnie himself. All the favourites were there, and the media captured every sip.

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Let’s just clear one thing up – Warnie didn’t say Starc was soft. He said he looks soft, a semantic point he made expertly when he moved back into the box on Thursday and on his preferred medium, Twitter.

Warnie is no stranger to controversy. Blaming his mum for a positive test, dancing like a goose after an Ashes win; Warnie’s done a bit in his time.

But in this case, I can fully understand his bemusement when he came in for criticism for his… well… criticism.

He’s a commentator. A commentator comments. He commented, and people commented on his commentary. Things got really meta for Warnie, but what’s a commentator to do?

What’s been forgotten in all this is the point he was making – Mitchell Starc wasn’t nearly aggressive enough in his approach in the first innings at the Gabba. It’s probably the best point made by a commentator in the seven days of Test cricket so far this summer.

I’ll give Starc some benefit of the doubt. The Brisbane pitch was faster and bouncier on Day 2, sure.

What I won’t give him, and in fact take away from him, was that he was flayed all over the park on Day 2, just as he was on Day 1. A return of 0/83 at an economy of 4.88 runs an over for the innings? Ouch!

Too many down leg side. Too many wide outside off. And, as has been Starc’s constant throughout his career, just ever so slightly too full. You might be able to get away with bowling that length, and fuller, in limited overs games and at Shield level, but once you’re bowling to guys at the top of their Test match game, anything slightly overpitched will go the journey.

Starc’s redeeming features have always been his pace and swing. His swing relies on him pitching the ball up, while his pace generally takes care of itself. He’s exceptionally talented, to the level where it wasn’t that long ago that Roarers and others were writing off Mitchell Johnson ever playing Test cricket again, because we had a superior left-hander in Starc.

He’s had his supporters, as well as his detractors.

And just as he has positive elements to his game, so too does he have weak points. His inconsistency, just like Johnson in many ways, has often meant he leaks a few more runs than is desirable.

The other major weakness of his requires context, and an understanding of what Australians have liked in their fast bowlers in years gone by.

Qualities include: good bouncer, mean streak, hates seeing batsmen score runs, hates seeing batsmen still at the crease, incessant and quality lip when following through down to the striker’s end, loves taking wickets, bowl fast, hates batsmen.

Starc possesses many, if not all of those qualities. No bowler likes watching batsmen score runs, and there’s no doubting that the younger left-arm Mitchell in the Aussie team didn’t get to where he is on talent alone.

But, as goes the gospel according to Warnie, all fast bowlers must not only bowl fast and aggressively, but they must also be full of bluster and bravado. In the case of Starc, if the puffing of the chest and verbalising the batsman doesn’t come naturally, he should fake it until he makes it.

Do you think Glenn McGrath, bowling at 130km/h and barely swinging a ball in his life, would have taken more than 500 Test wickets if he didn’t portray himself as on top of the batting every time he waddled to the wicket? It helps he could land the ball on a five cent piece, but how many players did he talk out? Did Glenn intimidate out? Did he get out simply due to his presence?

People have bowled much faster in the history of cricket than Johnson did last year against England, but rarely have they bowled more effectively.

Mitch had a presence. A nastiness. A menacing, threatening quality that was reinforced with every ball he bowled. Kevin Pietersen felt it, and said the England team were scared. That simple emotion accounts for at least 10 of his wickets in the series alone.

Because cricket is as much played in the mind as it is with a bat and ball, and that’s what Warnie’s trying to say about Starc.

Starc may be the most talented bowler in the Australian team, but without the mental edge over the batsmen he can look forward to being flayed to the boundary more often than celebrating with his teammates in a centre wicket huddle.

Talent and good bowling won’t necessarily get you wickets. Winning the mental battle doesn’t guarantee them either.

Put both together and you have a wicked wicket-taking combination. Mitchell Johnson did it last year. It’s time for Starc to puff out the chest, connect the two pillars of fast bowling, and start taking bags.

Make batsmen fear you, and Warnie will shut up.