Want to try and set the tone with a wicket: Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc has been the strike bowler for Australia over the last couple of years or so and is in top notch in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. He finished as the second leading wicket-taker of the series and picked 3 wickets in the first ODI. In the mean process, he also became the quickest bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets.

Starc said that he does not particularly focus on having different bowling styles for different formats of the game. “It’s something I do in all formats of cricket is try and take wickets often. If I can get one in the first over more often than not, I think we can get away to a good start,” he said.

He credited bowling coach Craig McDermott for his success, as he is the one who trained Starc before the 2015 World Cup. “There was a lot of work done before that with Craig McDermott especially, in the 12 months prior to the World Cup. Tinkering on a few things with my wrist (position) and swinging the ball, and in the tri-series (against England and India) before the World Cup I think everything started to click and it all felt really good,” he said.

As a team, Australia always talk about setting up the tone and he feels that a wicket up front with the new ball is the best way to set the tone. “We always talk about setting the tone, and more often than not I get the first over. So I want to try and set a good tone, and a wicket is the best way to do that.”

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Josh Hazlewood being his partner bowler, helps him to attack the opposition more, as Hazlewood will make sure that he won’t leak runs from his end with his consistent line and length.

“I’m not going to change the way I bowl, I’m going to be aggressive and try and bowl as fast as I can and take wickets. And having Josh (Hazlewood) at the other end allows me to do that because he can bowl so consistently and doesn’t really go for many runs. So I think that allows me to bowl as fast as I can and as aggressively as I can,” he summed-up.