‘The ball’s coming out decent. I can’t complain’: Starc’s stunning record ahead of Sydney Test
Mitchell Starc’s strike rate across this series is comfortably the best in Ashes history. What is the veteran fast bowler’s secret?
‘The ball’s coming out decent. I can’t complain’: Starc’s stunning record ahead of Sydney Test
In the 143-year history of Ashes cricket, there are 60 instances of a bowler having taken 25 wickets or more in a series.
England’s Jim Laker holds the record, with 46 wickets from five Tests in 1956. Terry Alderman’s 42 in the 1981 Ashes remains the most by an Australian, while Rodney Hogg’s 41 in 1978-79 is the highest tally in a series played on Australian home soil.
Shane Warne’s 40 scalps in the 2005 Ashes in England will forever be part of cricketing folklore.
But across those 60 instances, no bowler has come close to matching Mitchell Starc’s strike rate in this summer’s series.
The 35-year-old left-armer, whose ability to consistently bowl at extreme pace seems to defy sports science, has taken a wicket every 25.8 balls across four Tests this series.
With 26 wickets at an average of 17.42 heading into his home Test at the SCG starting on Sunday, it begs the question: is this Starc’s greatest summer in the baggy green?
Australia’s Mitchell Starc ahead of the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney. Credit: Phil Hillyard
“I guess so,” Starc, sitting in the SCG’s Ladies Stand, says with a shrug. “I’m not a great reflector. 3-1 is a big tick in the summer so far, and 4-1 would be much nicer reading at the end of the week. Thrilled to contribute and play a role in some really important wins.
“I feel good. The ball’s coming out decent, so I can’t complain.”
While their overall wicket hauls were higher, the strike rates of Laker (37), Alderman (46), Hogg (42) and Warne (38) all trailed at of Starc.
The closest in recent times is Mitchell Johnson in the 2013-14 Ashes, when he terrorised England with 37 wickets at 13.97, striking every 30.5 balls.
It would take something special this week for Starc to match or surpass Johnson’s wicket haul, particularly given the SCG remains his least favourable major Test venue in Australia – 27 wickets from 10 Tests at an average of 42.4.
Starc almost has more wickets in this series than across his entire Test career at the SCG.
“I like the ground, I don’t like the wicket,” Starc said. “I think it’s a bit of a lottery this wicket in the last five or six years. It’ll probably play different to what it looks like.”
