Starc carefully managed as Aussies search for a saviour
MITCHELL Starc’s cut leg has assumed national importance in Australia.
With locals having to contend with the shock of watching their world champion team slump to a first 5-0 oneday international whitewash to the Proteas, having not yet fully recovered from a 3-0 Test drubbing in Sri Lanka, all hope is now being placed on the left-arm pace spearhead in the looming three-Test series against South Africa.
Starc missed the mauling in Africa after a training injury that required 30 stitches. His much-anticipated return is being treated as the second coming.
However, the 26-year-old remains a long way from full fitness and will only have a first competitive bowl today in a Sheffield Shield match for his state side, New South Wales, under the watchful eye of his Test captain, Steve Smith.
Although the southpaw will only be able to bowl a maximum of 15 overs and is unable to slide in the field yet due to the injury still being “raw”, Smith, in particular, is confident that his main attacking weapon will be ready to line up at the Waca in Perth next Thursday.
“I’ll take care of him and make sure he’s okay for that first Test match,” Smith said yesterday. “He hasn’t done as much bowling as we would have liked, so he’s going to be on some restrictions this week. He’s bowled the last couple of weeks and feels like the ball is coming out really well.”
Starc’s presence in the Australian line-up is crucial, as Smith’s ODI attack lacked genuine pace and all-round penetration.
He is the only active home team bowler capable of exciting the speed gun with his 150km/h deliveries, and also possesses a potent in-swinging yorker in addition to his outright speed.
Starc can trouble the world’s best batsmen, including Hashim Amla. South Africa’s former Test captain also endured a long-standing battle with Starc’s predecessor, Mitchell Johnson.
Johnson – a fellow left-armer – would often push Amla far back into his crease with a couple of stinging balls to the rib cage, before following those up with a full delivery that would slide across the righthander from over the wicket.
Due to Amla’s feet being rooted firmly behind the crease, he was often unable to transfer his weight forward quickly enough to play the intended cover drive and would instead edge behind to the wicket-keeper or slip cordon.
Everything suggests that Starc will pilfer this game plan from the Johnson copybook.
He would be well advised, though, to get his accuracy spot on, because Amla has been equally destructive against the Aussie pacemen when their radars have not been in full operation.
The “Mighty#” enjoys the extra pace and bounce of the Australian pitches.
Amla gorged himself on the previous tour back in 2012 when he totalled 377 runs across the three Tests at an average of 62.83. He is particularly fond of Perth’s Waca, where he averages an imposing 76.75.
It was there four years ago that Amla’s and Starc’s paths crossed for the first and only time in their Test careers. They both landed heavy blows, with Starc recording figures of 6/154 in South Africa’s second innings. But the knockout punch was Amla’s 196.