Mitchell Starc set to make a return to competitive cricket

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc is set to return to cricket after being sidelined due to injury, as he sweats it out for the JLT One-Day Cup game between New South Wales and South Australia. The fast bowler was last seen in the Champions Trophy in England, where Steve Smith’s men had to face an unfortunate exit due to weather issues.

Starc also missed out on the tour to Bangladesh, where Australia played 2 Test matches against the host nation and the pacer is not in the current touring squad to India. Australia would want to get a fresh and fit Starc back in their side for the all important Ashes series later this year, and therefore the preparations have begun.

Starc set to return

“Barring any hiccups, I’ll be taking part in the JLT Cup and hopefully those first couple of Shield games as well,” said Starc. “I think that’s a great lead-up for all the guys who are around the Test set-up, the guys who are looking to try and get in that team and some of us coming back from injury.”

“It’s first-class cricket hopefully on some Test venues. It’s probably a better lead-in than most of the last few summers where we’ve had one Shield game, two at tops. The last few times I’ve been injured I’ve been rushed back too early for tournaments,” Starc added.

“The same thing happened in the Champions Trophy, so to have a nice even lead-in to this summer has been good. It has been a silver lining to spend a lot of time in the gym and not rush back into bowling and make sure I haven’t got any niggles leading into a very important summer.” he said