In an era when most cricketers, especially fast bowlers, have a start-stop career because of injuries, Mitchell Starc needs to be applauded as he stands on the brink of his 100th Test.
The left-arm pacer will become just the second Australian pacer after Glenn McGrath to play 100 Tests when he takes the field for the third Test against the West Indies in Kingston on Sunday.
Australia have already sealed the three-match series with an unassailable 2-0 lead and so much of the spotlight is on Starc for the day-night contest. But the 35-year-old isn’t enjoying the attention.
“No, I don’t like it. Get on with the cricket,” a smiling Starc told reporters. “(It’s the) same as every other week, I guess. No, a chance to win another Test match away from home, which is never easy to do.”
Starc made his Test debut way back in 2011 and has grown to be one of the most notable bowlers in Australia’s rich pace-bowling history.
“Growing up, I was always wanting to pull on the Baggy Green. I didn’t think I’d play one game, but to have 99 chances to do that has been a real privilege,” Starc said.
It hasn’t been all smooth for Starc. He too has often been pulled down by injuries and struggled with consistency in his early years in Test cricket.
“I was either in and out, or not good enough, or injured. So it’s a pretty stop-start to the first portion of Test cricket.
“I had a bit of success along the way in white-ball cricket and got a bit more comfortable with how things were going bowling-wise and started to put the pieces together with a few tools in red-ball cricket and then had a bit of an extended run there.”
Not just a century of Tests, another milestone beckons Starc as he is five wickets away from becoming the fourth Australian to win 400 Test scalps.
“I’ve always been lucky enough to have a bit of air speed, so it was kind of harnessing the rest around that,” he said.
“I guess early days, I had the ability to swing the new ball and bowl fast, but didn’t have a lot through the period where the ball didn’t do anything.
“Then to be able to bowl in different facets of the game, different conditions around the world... It’s probably helped me get as far down the track as I have.”
Not pitch perfect
Starc criticised the pitches in use in the ongoing England-India Test series.
“I didn’t see much of the game, I saw the scorecards. There were a few guys that were waking up, particularly Marnus (Labuschagne) and Alex Carey and Steve Smith, who would sit around a coffee machine and watch the game. I did see the scores. Who would be a kid in England and want to bowl on some of those wickets,” Starc told Willow Talk Podcast.
“From all reports, it was very subcontinent-like, which I find hard to believe. The pitches looked brutal for bowlers,” Starc added.
Match starts: West Indies vs Australia, Day I of 3rd Test, 12am IST Sunday,
live on Fancode