Former Test wicketkeeper and NSW star Peter Nevill reveals Mitch Starc’s fury after being denied a Shield ton
A first class ton continues to elude Mitch Starc, an anomaly that could have been avoided in 2020 if NSW’s then captain Peter Nevill didn’t declare with the pace ace on 86.
When Mitchell Starc fell for 77 in the second Ashes Test, there was one observer who felt the pain of the dismissal more keenly than anyone else.
Five years ago, former Test wicketkeeper and NSW captain Peter Nevill apologised to a furious Starc after declaring on him when he was 86 not out and hunting a maiden first-class century in a Sheffield Shield match in Adelaide.
Nevill remains desperate for the Australian spearhead and talented lower-order batsman, who also famously fell for an agonising Test 99 in India back in 2013, to fasten a thread that’s been waving in the breeze ever since.
Starc was so filthy at Nevill’s declaration he threw his bat in anger when he marched back to the NSW dugout in the Covid-era Shield game in late 2020, although the captain’s call late on day three was ultimately vindicated by the Blues taking two late wickets before stumps and then completing victory the next day in the last session of the match.
In the latest episode of Code Sports’ Sacked Podcast, Nevill relives the dramatic incident and admits he will sleep a little better if arguably the best fast bowler in the world can climb his Everest and finally eclipse the triple figure mark that has long eluded him before the end of his record-breaking career.
“I felt like we were running out of time to win the game. We needed enough overs to bowl them out. Starcy was on 80 odd (86). And yeah, I declared. Sorry, Mitchell,” Nevill said on Sacked.
“He’s got a higher Test score than I do, so he can hang his hat on that.
“But I’m sure he’s going to get there this Ashes series. Mitchell Starc’s hundred, I’m calling it.”
Peter Nevill declared while Mitch Starc was on 86*...
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 10, 2020
The quick wasn't too happy! #SheffieldShieldpic.twitter.com/NQLTkh1L0w
Starc has 12 half centuries in his Test career, exactly the same number as an equally capable lower-order batsman by the name of Shane Warne, who was also haunted by being dismissed for a highest score of 99 in Test cricket.
Mitchell Johnson, another brilliant left-handed striker of the ball like Starc, had 11 half centuries, but did post a memorable hundred against South Africa in Cape Town in 2009 to sit alongside his bowling feats.
Starc was eventually out in Brisbane, 23 runs short of a century but with the top score for Australia in a series where he already has 18 wickets and two man-of-the-match awards from the opening two Ashes Tests.
Nevill told Sacked one of the great privileges of his own 17-Test career was to play alongside Starc and the current crop of established Australian stars, but concedes he does not miss having to face the left-arm destroyer in the nets.
“He was certainly (the scariest bowler I ever had to face in the nets), especially when he was young,” Nevill said.
“(Back then) he probably didn’t have the control that he has now. Early season in the SCG nets, with some spicy wickets and Starc throwing them down around your ears when he wasn’t meaning to was never fun.
“But to have played with guys like that who have then gone on and just dominated international cricket for such a long period of time, it’s quite remarkable when you look back and they were just these bright-eyed young guys who come along.
“Now they’ve played as much cricket as they’ve played … it’s just incredible. I pinch myself that I got to play with those guys.”
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Originally published as Former Test wicketkeeper and NSW star Peter Nevill reveals Mitch Starc’s fury after being denied a Shield ton
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