Mitchell Starc: “It’s never nice missing cricket but it’d be pretty selfish for me to go into a game not 100%”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Australia left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc will miss the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne as he is currently nursing a bruised heel.
Starc, who will be replaced by Jackson Bird, has only featured in one Boxing Day Test in his career, but he admitted that it would be foolish of him to risk making the injury worse solely to play in the historic match.
However, despite being out of the match, Starc did take a couple of shots at England, saying that they shouldn’t be questioning the depth of the Australian side.
“It’s quite humorous actually, they haven’t taken 20 wickets in the series and we have, and they’re having a crack at our depth,” Starc said in Melbourne. “I don’t like facing Jacko in the nets so I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do to the English batters throughout this Test match. He’s been awesome through Shield cricket this year, been doing it for a number of years so he definitely deserves his chance this week and I’m looking forward to it.
“I think they’ve got bigger things to worry about than the depth of Australian fast bowlers. Hopefully Jacko takes five-for and really shows them the depth in Australian cricket, especially in bowlers, is pretty strong, even though there’s a few guys missing through injury. It’s never nice missing cricket but it’d be pretty selfish for me to go into a game not 100%, especially when Jacko’s waiting there and he’s bowling really well. So really happy for him to get a go and hopefully he takes five-for and sticks it up those depth comments from the Poms.
“At the moment we’re ahead in the series and playing some really good cricket, so if they want to keep changing their tactics whether verbally or trying to get in the media as well, for us we’ll keep playing good cricket on the field, hopefully it’ll be 4-0 by the end of the week and they won’t have too much else to say.”
Starc also addressed the issue about Australia’s short ball barrage throughout the Ashes. While it has been reported that England seamer James Anderson complained to the umpires about the number of short balls Australia were bowling, the issue was brought up again by former England captain Mike Atherton.
“It’s Test match cricket,” Starc said. “I’m pretty sure our guys have copped enough bouncers and we haven’t whinged about it yet, so as far as I know our bowlers will keep bouncing their batters. From the start of the series we set out with some really good plans and they’ve worked through the series so far.
“So we may have tinkered with a few of those but the plan to the tail has always been the same, bowl very aggressively, fast, get up in their nose and have them jumping around. We’re pretty happy with how our plans are going, we’re 3-0 up, that’ll continue during this Test match and hopefully by the end of the week it’s 4-0.
“It’s still a plan, [Bird] still bowls quick enough, pretty sure he still bowls quicker than the Pom bowlers as well. He’s bowling really well, he’s taken a lot of wickets in Shield cricket, he’s been bowling fantastic in the nets, he’s been awesome around the team, so he thoroughly deserves his chance.”
Starc admitted that he is desperate to play in the Boxing Day Test, but opted not to as he doesn’t want to spend more time on the sidelines.
“There’s always a risk. Going by the scan it was a good result, the bone and the plantar fascia is all good there, it’s just a deep bruise of the fat pad,” Starc said. “It’s never nice missing a game, but if we pushed through it there was always a chance that it could’ve gotten worse, something like Pat Cummins had six or seven years ago and he was out for four or five months.
“Things come into it when you play through injuries, but that’s not the case this week. When you’re bowling with nine times your bodyweight going through your front foot it can be a bit sore bowling every ball.
“But both our other quicks, Joshy [Hazlewood] and Patty [Cummins] have been through it before. It’s not a nice one, it doesn’t sound like much but it can hang around for a while from all reports. Some heal quicker than others, others tend to hang around for a period of time, so that’s probably played a little bit on the conversations over the last couple of days, making sure that it isn’t something that keeps me out for 10 more games, it’s more a one fixture sort of thing. Hopefully it’s all good in the next few days and I can prepare for Sydney.”
Despite missing out on the fourth Ashes Test, Starc conceded that there is a good chance he could feature in the fifth and final match of the series in Sydney.
“One out of seven years isn’t very good, but it’s nice that we’ve won the series and we’ve played it a little bit safer I guess now and I might get another Boxing Day one day,” he said. “I still feel like I could’ve played on it, but it would’ve been pretty selfish if I’d gone into a game underdone and put those other guys under pressure if I had to pull out midway through a game.
“So I think commonsense prevailed there, Jacko’s ready to go and he’s bowling really well, so excited for him to have a go. It gives me a good chance now to have a bit of time off it over the next few days to get my rehab done and give me a really good chance for Sydney. That’s definitely not out of the question so it’s a few days now to let it heal by itself, watch the boys do the business here in Melbourne then get ready for Sydney.”