Mitchell Starc is the man who can win Australia the 2019 World Cup. Which is why it was so significant for the big quick to return to his searing, menacing best in the second Test against Sri Lanka.
Starc bowled quicker and better than he has since the first Test in South Africa 11 months ago, ending a long form slump by grabbing match figures of 10-100 on a flat pitch in Canberra.
As Australia have steamrolled an injury-hit Sri Lanka 2-0 in these Tests the performances of home players largely have been analysed with an eye on the upcoming Ashes in England.
But it is in the World Cup in the UK in June when Starc will be most pivotal. Australia’s hopes of an Ashes upset will rest more heavily on the ability of Steve Smith and David Warner to churn out runs, Pat Cummins to maintain his relentless form, and Nathan Lyon to again comprehensively outbowl England’s spinners.
Come the World Cup, however, and no single player has the potential to propel Australia with the same force as Starc. The left armer won the Player of the Tournament in 2015 when Australia cruised to yet another World Cup victory – their fourth from the past five editions.
Starc grabbed 22 wickets at 10 in what was one of the greatest-ever performance across a World Cup.
The Australian cricket team. (AAP Image/David Mariuz)
He has played so little ODI cricket of late – just seven matches in the past 19 months – that Starc’s form has waned in the 50-over format as he’s been unable to build form and momentum.
Now, however, he will have the chance to do just that as Australia have two upcoming five-match ODI series, the first in India starting in four weeks from now, and the next in the UAE against Pakistan from the end of next month.
Tackling India’s elite batting lineup will be a great challenge for Starc, who has an excellent ODI record against that heavyweight team, with 12 wickets at 20 from seven matches. It is, however, almost four years since the last time Starc played an ODI against India.
As Starc has largely been absent from the ODI team over the past two years Australia have used a dozen other quicks. While some have performed admirably – most notably Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jhye Richardson – none have been able to offer what Starc does. Not one of them possesses the same ability to both wreak havoc with the new ball and to also calmly stymie the opposition in the death overs.
At his best Starc with the new white ball is a nightmare match-up for every single batsman on the planet. Even Virat Kohli, the world’s best ODI batsman, would find the going tough when Starc is swinging the white ball late and with precision at 150kmh.
On his day he is comfortably the most destructive ODI bowler in the world. He’s also physically intimidating. Peak Starc instils fear in opposition batting lineups. He not only takes regular wickets with the new ball but also earns breakthroughs for his bowling partners, who the batsmen try to target due to the comparative difficulty of attacking Starc.
Unlike top ODI teams India, England, South Africa and Pakistan, Australia do not have a strike spin bowler – a tweaker who regularly takes wickets in clumps in the middle overs. This places greater importance on the ability of Australia’s ODI quicks to make the most of the new ball. Starc is Australia’s best bet for doing just that over the next five months.
After looking bereft of confidence all summer, Starc finally clicked over the past four days against Sri Lanka. It was clear the visiting batsmen were genuinely rattled by the scorching pace at which he was operating. The telltale sign that Starc had found rhythm was that he was hitting 150kmh with ease.
At his fearsome best Starc seems to just glide through the crease, without straining for extra pace, and yet still produces deliveries of startling speed.
That’s what he did in this Test. That’s what he needs to do in India. And that’s what Australia will hope he can do in the World Cup.
peter chrisp
Guest
Ronan your reviews are always good reading, just around the corner is a short tour of India beginning on the 24th February to the 10th March including 5/50 over matches and 2 /20-20's. Have they selected the side as yet? Or we shall find out pretty soon.
Daniel Back
Guest
McGrath was at his best operating around 133 km/h accuracy with the odd surprise short ball or yorker. Hazlewood would do better doing that.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
I think Hazlewood got lost for a while there between his original method of being a precise medium-fast seamer, or being an intimidating 145kmh strike bowler. In the 2017-18 Ashes he suddenly started bowling 6-7ks quicker, and using a lot more short balls. It seemed that was part of a plan to really batter the Poms with aggressive pace bowling in that series. He had a good series but I still think he's at his best when he bowls within himself, saves his top pace for the odd shock delivery, and focuses on relentless accuracy.
bigbaz
Roar Guru
I reckon Hazelwoods form is more of a worry than Starcs.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Obviously I'm just making educated guesses here Bush, but England would be doing Australia a massive favour if they give them more than two, at most, drier flatter surfaces. I'd expect the two London pitches would be the ones most likely to be drier and flatter and the other three venues to be the ones most likely to be moister and more seam friendly. England know they are a much better side than Australia on traditional English-style seaming decks so surely they'll ask their curators for several of those. Hazlewood should a absolutely be better than last time as back then he was a rookie and now he has 164 Test wickets to his name.
The Bush
Roar Guru
I see, my mistake Ronan - thanks for clearing that up. So we can expect what we got in 2015 then? Three greens and maybe two drys. It would be fantastic to see the selectors actually pick bowlers suited to the green wickets, the Bird, Richardson, Mennie, Sayers, Siddle etc. Can Hazlewood be more effective that he was last time?
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
Whether Starc is in form or not, I don't see this Australian side could reach even in Semi-Finals, as they do not have good spinners for the middle overs and the batting lin-up is fragile.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
The Ashes don't start for another 6 months, I'm not sure bowling in a couple of Shield matches now would benefit two veteran bowlers like Staff/Hazlewood that much in 6 months time. They are Australia's two most accomplished ODI quicks, both of them if fit should be playing as many ODIs as possible over the next few months to get cherry ripe for the WC.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
No Bush it was the opposite - I said the Ashes are being played later in the year when the weather is wetter in three of the host cities meaning that the pitches may well be moist. Realistically I would expect there to be at most 2 drier, flatter pitches which will suit Australia more and at least 3 moister, seaming pitches which will suit England and suit slower and very accurate bowlers.
The Bush
Roar Guru
But is Starc our best ODI player? You’re talking about form that is four years old now. As you’ve set out, he’s barely played for 2 years. I hope he finds that form again, but there’s no guarantee he will, certainly his overall cricket for the last six months hasn’t been to his usual standard. As for the Ashes, it depends on the wickets. If they’re green, I’d be leaving him out (though Hazlewood needs to drop his pace back and get his accuracy back). But I swear just the other day you were anticipating slow, flat, dry wickets because of the lateness of the Ashes. If so, Starc will be vital.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It was no coincidence that the four semi-finalists at the last world cup were the four best bowling lineups, the two who reached the final were the two best bowling lineups and the team that won had the best bowling lineup. Batting is certainly important. You need quality batsmen, but if you've got bowlers who keep bowling slot balls and getting smashed out of the park, with no threat to take wickets, it doesn't matter how good your batsmen are, they will continually have unchaseable totals to chase.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Exactly, he took a 10-for on a flat pitch, and most of those were top-order wickets (in the second innings he took 4 of the first 5 wickets to fall).
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Well if you want to rest Australia’s best ODI cricketer from the ODI World Cup you can’t think the WC is very important. Imagine if the World Cup was after the Ashes and people were talking about resting Cummins from the Ashes to have him ready for the World Cup. On Starc – when was the last time an express strike bowler who relies on pace over accuracy had a really good Test series in England? If you just look at Aussie bowlers, Johnson, Starc, Lee and Tait have all struggled in England because the conditions there rarely favour those style of pace-over-accuracy strike bowlers – the conditions suit slower, much more precise bowlers. Starc could be very handy on the 1-2 flatter pitches we’re likely to see in the Ashes but there’s nothing in his Test career or in the recent history of other series in England which suggests his pace-over-accuracy style will work on the 3 or so moist, slow, seaming pitches we’ll see in the Ashes. So you’re resting your best ODI cricketer from the ODI World Cup to get him ready for a Test series in conditions which history suggests will not suit him at all?
Paul
Roar Guru
Ronan, I think Australia can win the WC without Starc but don't think we can win the Ashes unless he plays all 5 Tests. He will have exactly the same preparation issues as the rest of the team and it's up to CA to sort out a programme. This MAY include ODI games in the UAE and India. It MAY also include selection in the WC squad, but I'd hate to see him play every game, get belted all over the park in the WC, then pull up lame in the Ashes because he was overworked in the earlier tournament.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Ronan, If he can recapture his 2015 form over the next 10 games or so, Australia's chances of winning the World Cup will be lifted immensely. You're also spot on that if we don't take early wickets with guys like Starc, Cummins and Richardson, we're in trouble, because we don't seem to have the spinners to take wickets during the middle of an innings.
The Bush
Roar Guru
Cricket matches are won by bowlers, regardless of the format. I agree that it does seem like spinners are the key to limited overs cricket at the moment.
The Bush
Roar Guru
I don't think Paul is saying the World Cup isn't as important, more that Starc just shouldn't be in the frame for the side... I also thinks there's plenty of cricket he could be playing, he could play the rest of the Shield, he could play County, he could play all of Australia's warm up games. But that's all moot, he'll be playing ODIs for Aus, that's a given.
Big Daddy
Guest
Happy to see him pick up a few wickets albeit some gun shy Sri Lankans. Get him back into shield for a few weeks along with Hazelwood so they can prepare for ashes.
Brian
Guest
Interesting because I reckon that unlike Tests, ODI are won by your top order batsman and spin bowlers. I'd even go so far as to say Warner and Zampa are Australia's most important players for the World Cup. You mention Starc has lacked ODI momentum but Cummins, Rabada and Bumrah seem very rarely to impact a ODI.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
That's an odd take Paul. The World Cup is every bit as important as the Ashes, it would be madness to leave Starc sitting around idle for the next 6 months just waiting for the Ashes to start.