- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Unless Mitchell Starc produces a startling effort in the second Test in Jamaica this week, he faces being dropped again when Ryan Harris returns to the Australian side for the Ashes.
In fact, even if Starc scythes through the West Indian batting line-up it may not be sufficient to earn him a spot in the XI at Cardiff in a month’s time.
Test cricket has not been kind to the lanky left-arm quick. His career has spanned only 16 matches yet the number of times he has been axed is in double figures.
His mishandling reached a cruel peak when he was ‘rotated’ out of the side for the 2012 Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, despite having been a match-winner with five second-innings scalps the previous match.
Were Starc to be left out for the first Ashes Test it would be unfortunate but not unjust, like some of his previous handling by the selectors.
Australia are in the luxurious situation of having a surplus of quality pacemen. Before his latest injury layoff, Harris had proven himself the second best Test bowler on the globe, behind only all-time great South African Dale Steyn.
The 35-year-old owns an extraordinary Test record against England, with 57 wickets at an average of 21. Crucially, Harris has a mental hold over in-form English skipper Alastair Cook, with whom he toyed over the past two Ashes. Someone must make way for his return.
Australia’s pacemen made merry against an inept West Indian batting line-up during the nine-wicket demolition job in the first Test last week. Mitchell Johnson (5-72 from 29 overs), Josh Hazlewood (5-50 from 31 overs) and Starc (6-76 from 33 overs) formed a cohesive unit on the dry surface at Windsor Park.
Johnson showed some early rust before finding strong rhythm and exhibiting clever variations.
Hazlewood was the standout, almost digging a crater on a good length just outside off stump such was the relentless way he hit the perfect spot.
Starc, meanwhile, was loose to begin with, just like his left-arm colleague. But he too improved over the course of the match and showcased an impressive degree of accuracy, something which too often has been absent from his bowling with the red ball.
No one doubts his ability to take wickets, but it is consistency which has been lacking. Of course, it is difficult to locate that when you are bounced like a basketball in and out of the side.
Clearly, Starc would benefit enormously from a length run in the side. He has such extravagant gifts that they must be harnessed.
As a 6’6 left armer capable of swinging the ball late at 150kmh, he is the rarest of bowlers. It is hard to imagine that he will not one day take the Test game in his palm and squeeze from it a wealth of wickets.
But, for the moment, he is not in Australia’s best attack for the Ashes. The way Harris and Johnson monstered the English batsmen 18 months ago guarantees them selection.
Hazlewood, meanwhile, has been a revelation since debuting last Australian summer, with 17 wickets at 23 from four Tests. In the manner of legends like Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock and Curtly Ambrose, Hazlewood hits the same testing area of the pitch ad nauseam until the batsmen falter.
Hazlewood’s performance at Roseau was remarkable. It was the quality of bowling that we have grown accustomed to witnessing regularly from Steyn and Harris or, at their peak, from the likes of Vernon Philander and James Anderson.
Australia’s resounding success in the last Ashes derived as much from their attack’s ability to build pressure as to blast out the Poms. Johnson, in particular, cashed in on the pressure created by Harris and spinner Nathan Lyon.
It is no surprise that Johnson’s record over recent years has been far worse when Harris has been out of the side.
Similar to Harris, Hazlewood builds the kind of pressure upon which his bowling cohorts can seize. He, Harris and Lyon will ensure that the English batting line-up will find it very difficult to score freely in the Ashes. That, in turn, will make the mercurial Johnson even more dangerous.
Starc just doesn’t fit into this picture. But he may be able to paint himself into it before long.
Harris turns 36 years old in a few months, has a famously fragile body, and recently became a father. It seems unlikely he will play Tests beyond another 12 months or so.
Even Johnson, who is 34 years old this year, may not have a lot of time left in the game. History shows few bowlers who were able to maintain their peak speed into their mid-30s. Without his pace, Johnson is a significantly diminished bowler, as we’ve seen in the past. Once he drops 5kmh, and that can’t be far away, it will probably end his Test career.
There will be ample opportunities for young pacemen to stake their claims in the longest form of the game over the next two years.
Starc will among the pack, jostling for a permanent position in the Test XI. In the shorter term he will have chances to make sure that he is the lead candidate in that group by exploiting his limited opportunities.
He looks certain to play the second Test against the West Indies starting on Thursday and is likely to play in the Ashes too. Harris’ age and fragility means he may be managed through the Ashes, with a one-match rest at some point very possible.
Australia will also be mindful of balancing the workload of Hazlewood, whose only weakness exposed at Test level so far has been his stamina. It would not surprise to see both Harris and Hazlewood rested from one match apiece during the Ashes.
Starc will fill any such breach. For now he will have to make do with such cameos.