Canberra: Few cricketers play 100 Tests for their country, fewer fast bowlers stay fit long enough to reach that milestone. And even fewer mark the occasion as memorably, and perhaps destructively, as Mitchell Starc did.
In Jamaica this week Starc made the pink ball talk and had the West Indies batting in disarray, claiming a five-wicket haul in just 15 balls, ending with career-best figures of 6/9 as West Indies were skittled for 27, the second-lowest total in Test history.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who has witnessed Starc’s journey from the early days, heaped praise on his longevity and legacy, something he believed the left-arm pacer was always destined to achieve.
“He's really now stacking up an amazing career- over 400 Test match wickets,” Ponting said, speaking to Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
“I think everyone who laid eyes on him as a youngster understood that there was every possibility that he could be a 100-Test match, 400 or 500-wicket fast bowler for Australia.
“He's got to be 6’5”. He's always had pace on his side. He's always been sort of that high 140s and sometimes pushing that sort of 150 barrier. He's had the ability to swing the new ball back into the right-handers.”
Starc made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 2009 at just 19, and within two years, he had earned his Test cap.
Sixteen years and 292 international matches later, the 35-year-old remains close to his physical peak. a testament to his commitment to putting national duty above all else.
“A lot of that physical stuff has never been questioned with him. It's been spoken about a fair bit this week,” Ponting added.
“He's made a lot of decisions to give him the best opportunity to have a long-term international career. When I say decisions, I mean by standing out of different IPL tournaments at different times when he's had bigger international commitments coming up.”
Ponting was part of the dressing room during Starc’s early days in Test cricket, watching the young quick find his feet at the highest level.
He vividly recalled the game against India in Perth, which was just the third Test of Starc’s career, where he unsettled none other than Sachin Tendulkar with pace and movement.
Ponting knew then and there during that spell that Starc had something special in him.
“I remember, he was bowling a spell to Sachin Tendulkar and was able to sort of bowl a short one, get up under Sachin's armpit and Sachin just sort of knocked one into short leg on the leg side,” Ponting recalled.
“And when you could see that sort of pace and bounce and have someone like Sachin not be able to cope with it, I think that was the reassurance for all of us that there was probably something extra special there for Mitchell Starc."
Starc’s resume in international cricket is enviable. A two-time 50-over World Cup winner, T20 World Cup champion, World Test Championship winner and with 725 international wickets to his name, a bona fide modern-day great.
And yet, as Ponting keenly observed, there remains an insatiable hunger in Starc to evolve, improve and keep adding new weapons to his already formidable arsenal.
“He's got better and better. Like skill-wise and mentally, I think he understands his body, understands his game probably better than ever, especially the last couple of years,” Ponting noted.
“He's added a couple of different skills maybe the last two or three years that don't seem like massive things, but he's sort of incorporated that three-quarters seam, that wobble seam delivery that's just made his in-swing of that little bit more potent as well and has given him a little bit more variation.”
Speaking on the mental side of Starc’s game, Ponting noted the small but meaningful routines the left-arm quick has developed over the years to keep himself focused and in the right mindset on the field.
“When I talk about working out his own game, you've probably seen it and heard about in the past, but he wears a bit of tape on his, I think it's his right wrist, his non-bowling hand. And he's just got a couple of words, which is just a reminder for him of what he has to do and how he has to think about it mentally.
“So those little things, I think, are things you learn along the way with the more experience that you have.
“He's physically going along as well as ever. He's always had those little niggles like all fast bowlers do but he finds a way to push through them, he plays games out with niggles and that's why he's standing there now with 400 Test wickets next to his name.”
