Mitchell Starc has thrown his support behind Australia’s less experienced players as the squad attempts to regroup after a 4-1 loss to West Indies in the T20 series and ahead of three One-Day Internationals.
West Indies dominated an Australian side missing several of its best players including David Warner, Steve Smith and Pat Cummins, who withdrew from the winter tour due to bubble fatigue after playing in the suspended IPL.
While Starc was reluctant to express his thoughts on players missing international tours as a result of joining domestic T20 tournaments, he emphasised the opportunities available to those currently in the Caribbean.
“I've got my own personal views but, at the same time, each of those guys are gonna have different situations, which, I guess, determine their decisions,” Starc said, speaking from the team hotel in Barbados.
“Obviously you throw in conversations about different bubbles and quarantine periods and the like. Obviously that would have come in to it with some guys’ decisions.
“Ultimately, we're here with a strong group of Australian guys, some young inexperienced guys with a chance to perform and potentially lock down some World Cup spots.
“So yeah sure you've got some guys still at home doing whatever they're doing throughout the time, you've got some young exciting cricketers [who have] performed through domestic cricket now they’ve got their chance to nail down that spot so it's exciting for them.
“I guess the depth of Australian cricket giving these guys some experiences, playing against a really strongly West Indian side, certainly in the T20s and now moving on to the One-Dayers so, yeah, I guess I've certainly got my own opinions that I'll keep to myself, but for the moment it is what it is, we've got this group here, we’re looking to still win series, and we've got some things to improve on from the T20s which we can do in One-Day games.”
Starc hasn’t entered the IPL auction since 2018, preferring to focus on his international career and spending more time with family, including his wife Alyssa Healy, and the physical demands of bowling across three formats will influence his future priorities.
“I guess over the last few years I’ve used that time so I can be at my best or I'll be ready to go for Australian duty and not have to pick and choose for tours,” said Starc. “So that was certainly the case in the previous IPL and I'll just keep assessing it year by year and see what the schedule looks like and where I'm at with my cricket and my body and then just see how we go from there.”
Before the West Indies tour Starc spoke about his need to find short-format rhythm after playing just a handful of T20Is over the past five years.
In the first match of the series Starc was expensive and failed to take wickets, with figures of 0-40 and 0-49, but by the third game he seemed to have settled back into the format and he was instrumental in Australia’s solitary victory; bowling the final over, Starc defended a lead of 10 runs with the destructive Andre Russell at the crease.
But, as he concentrates on his white ball bowling, the approaching summer’s sex Tests against Afghanistan and England off the back of a T20 World Cup campaign is hard to ignore.
By the end of last summer, Australia’s fast bowlers appeared worn down by the series loss to India and the crammed schedule and accompanying quarantine periods later this year will likely be an even greater test of physical and mental stamina.
Starc floated the idea that Australia may have to use a larger group of fast bowlers across the Tests, rather than rely on himself, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, pointing to Australia’s last Ashes campaign in England, in which they rotated Peter Siddle and James Pattinson into the side.
“It throws up another interesting interesting discussion there in terms of six Test matches,” said Starc.
“And what we saw through the last summer we had a few guys with the squad, you know Michael Neser was there for the whole time and he certainly continues to impress in domestic cricket and waiting for his chance in on international scene [and] James Patterson as well, who was around the group.
“So we certainly have a group of fast bowlers, there's certainly other other guys around pushing for selection along with those two and the three of us who've been around a little while.
“I think it goes on to points that Peter Siddle mentioned the other week, and something that we did in England, was was have a squad of bowlers.
“I think Pat [Cummins] was the only one who played that whole Ashes series in England, and, whether it's through through matchups or through conditions or the physical capacity of guys to get through series, that’s certainly one that's probably on the discussion table for for the staff and for the selectors.
“No doubt all the players will want to play every game so that's a hard one to take the ball out of someone's hand but I think certainly the mindset of the fast bowlers is wanting to win series so I guess we'll see how that pans out through the rest of the summer and, obviously with some cricket before the before the Test match summer as well, we'll see how guys are going.”
