Six month break was good for me: Mitchell Starc

The comeback of Mitchell Starc has been nothing short of special, to say the least. Although he was a bit wayward in the first Test at Pallekele, Day One of the second Test match has seen Starc become his former self as he went on to claim five wickets in the first innings. What was even more impressive was the fact that Starc was able to clock speeds everyone knows he is capable of. Speaking about his impressive five-wicket haul, Starc stated that the six-month absence due to a stress fracture was perhaps required following an arduous tour.

“Physically I think the six-month break I had with my foot and my ankle was really good for me to get some really good time in the gym and build up that strength that I lost probably through the Ashes series and the one-day series there,” Starc said at the end of play on Day 1.

“I’ve been really happy with where my body’s at physically leading into the triangular series in the West Indies and this Test series. I’m starting to get that consistency back in Test cricket anyway. The first Test here definitely wasn’t the best I’ve bowled but started to get a bit of rhythm back through there, so I was pretty happy with how they came out today.

Speaking about partnering with Josh Hazelwood, Starc said, “Josh and I really enjoyed bowling with each other in partnerships. He hits a spot and is a genius at doing that, and allowing me to bowl as fast and aggressive as I can from the other end. We work really well together there, so it’s nice to be back and hopefully be around for a lot longer than I have in the past.”

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“For me, it didn’t swing too much in the first Test but did enough to create a few chances. Today, I was finding a different way to take wickets and get the ball reversing. There’ll be days where it swings a lot more and other days where it doesn’t, but Joshy bowled pretty well with the swinging ball early and then with the reversing ball.

“Josh started getting a bit of reverse, so we talked about if we could hit that rough side a little bit more we might get more reverse and obviously it did. Josh bowled really well, I was lucky to get a bit of movement, and (Mitchell) Mitchy Marsh bowled pretty well with the reversing ball as well, so I think we did that a lot better this game and looked after the rough side of the ball better than the first Test.”

Speaking about his relationship with interim bowling coach and mentor, Starc said that he was indeed working on his ability to extract reverse swing. “With AD I’ve been working pretty much on that delivery that got Mendis out with that reversing ball,” Starc said.

“Pretty pleased that’s come off and something I’ve worked on with him since being in Colombo and obviously the last couple of weeks as well. AD’s been great, we’ve all got a lot out of him so far and hopefully that continues for the rest of this Test and the third as well,” he concluded.

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