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When any one-day international series follows the Test matches, as sure as night follows day, there will be a chorus of disapproval when an established player is given a bit of time off.
‘We pay our money and want to watch the best players’ is the cry and it’s hard to argue against this point. If I’d splashed out the best part of £100, I would want to see the best that my country and the opposition had to offer.
International sport, by its very definition, should be the cream of one nation against the cream of another and not a mish-mash of the various personnel who make up the fringe element.
In the real world, however, if you are tempted to throw some of your hard-earned at the various ticketing agencies then you have to take what you’re given. A sense of entitlement may be all well and good but the world game sings a different tune to the one desired by the punters, especially in this day and age of attempting to milk the product dry.
And this is where Australia find themselves with Mitchell Starc.
Had I any say in the make-up of the Australian team then I would want Starc playing in everything. His prowess in the limited overs formats is undoubted with his showings in the World Cup cementing his reputation in that theatre. As a Test match performer he has all the attributes to be a success.
Granted, there is an inconsistency in his red ball displays that tend to infuriate as much as enthral, but a glimpse at the ledger sheet should make a case for his inclusion.
Capable of ninety miles per hour plus, the ability to swing the new ball and reverse the old one and the requisite streak of aggression that, as a rule, doesn’t do any fast bowlers any harm.
Unfortunately, the ability of the individual doesn’t necessarily tally up with the demands of the schedule. Should Starc be flogged in to the ground then his retirement, either enforced or voluntarily, will arrive a damn sight sooner.
Obviously Australian fans and fans of opposition teams would not want this outcome.
If Australia want Starc to spearhead their quest for a first World T20 title next March then, with an ankle already giving him problems, he’ll need to be rested at some stage during the summer.
If Australia want to reassert their standing in the five-day game after the unexpected Ashes defeat then they might have to accept the fact that they could be gambling with the shorter game.
So what do you really want, Cricket Australia?
Countries should be able to plough the requisite energy into each and every series but in a year when Steve Smith’s side get all of 10 days at home, following four months away, before jetting off on another overseas assignment, it simply isn’t a possibility.
Dragging it down to the lowest common denominator, the seam bowlers are the ones who will inevitably lose out from such idiotic, calendar-filling gluttony.
Specialisation isn’t too much of a problem for a Jimmy Anderson who is in the twilight years of his career, but for someone of Starc’s age, it is a question they would probably rather not have to answer or have answered for them.
The differing strands of the game are as far apart as they have ever been and with that particular trend showing no sign of stopping, the move towards separate teams is ever closer.
Perhaps this is just progress, the next step in the evolution of the sport but until the day someone puts their hand up and states, for the record, they are committing to this course of action then we’re stuck with a compromise that doesn’t want to be reached.
As a fan, I want to see Starc at full tilt against New Zealand in a couple of months and I want to see him swinging the white Kookaburra in India come next March.
This a prime example of an issue the game has willingly saddled itself with – I won’t be holding my breath.