‘When you play poorly you’re going to get criticised’: Starc’s advice for England women

Mitchell Starc believes the England women’s team needs to learn to accept that criticism and scrutiny is part of professional sport, as Australia eye an Ashes whitewash at the MCG.

As skipper Alyssa Healy awaited her selection fate after declaring her fitness for the historic day/night Test, Starc said England’s players needed to become accustomed to the harsher spotlight that comes with the growth of the women’s game.

Injured captain Alyssa Healy of Australia and Beth Mooney of Australia practise before the second Twenty20.Credit: Getty Images

Starc, Healy’s husband, said Australia’s players had gone through that phase during the T20 World Cup at home five years ago, when the tournament was marketed around the national side qualifying for the final. The hosts overcame a poor start to win in front of 86,174 fans, a record crowd for a women’s sporting event in Australia but short of the world mark.

England’s women are under the microscope after a poor series that has them perilously close to becoming the first side to suffer a 16-0 clean sweep since the hybrid points format was introduced in 2013.

Former England international turned pundit Alex Hartley said last week she had been given the “cold shoulder” by players over her comments questioning the team’s fitness after their early exit from last year’s T20 World Cup.

“Thinking back to just before the 2020 World Cup in Australia, there was a bit more scrutiny around performance and their team, and at times they weren’t playing well,” Starc told this masthead.

Mitchell Starc, pictured with Australia captain and wife Alyssa Healy, says England’s players need to expect criticism if they do not play well.Credit: Getty Images

“I think a lot of the more experienced girls saw that as a step-up for women’s cricket; people weren’t just being nice for the sake of being nice, they were actually a bit more critical of good and bad performances.

“So that’s been a progression of the women’s game as well. It’s gone from strength to strength for the last five years or so, and with that comes professionalism and criticism. When you play poorly you’re going to get criticised, like the English are at the moment. Likewise, when you play really well like the Australian team are, they’re going to be spoken about how dominant they are.

“So it goes hand in hand, and certainly the girls who have been around enough have seen the change and see it as part of the game. For the younger group it’s about growing up with it, it’s not so foreign to them. We’ve obviously dealt with it for a bit longer, but it is part of the game, and the more it gets broadcast and shown on TV or spoken about, the better for the game, but it comes with good and bad as well.”

Healy said a clean sweep in the Ashes would be up there with the all-conquering side’s World Cup victories in the white-ball formats.

“We ideally want that 16-0 – it’s a real tick in the box for us,” Healy said.

“Humiliation’s not a word I would use, but no team has ever whitewashed a series before, and I would think to have that for this group of players and the work we’ve done in the last 12 to 18 months to get ourselves to this point would be a really nice marker for us.”

England captain Heather Knight said the criticism of her team was warranted, and she would play this game as if she had a “point to prove”.

“The way we’ve performed, you come to expect that extra scrutiny and pressure,” Knight said. “No doubt, there has been a lot of noise. Individuals will deal with it differently. Some will ignore it, some will use it as motivation.

“It’s quite hard to ignore it when you have to come to the press and speak about things. I’m probably someone who is at my best when I have a bit of a point to prove. I certainly do have this week.”

After a solid session on Tuesday, Healy batted for about an hour in the nets as she aimed to convince selectors she was over the foot injury that had ruled her out of the T20 leg of the series.

Healy said specialists had told her there was no evidence she would risk further injury by playing. She will not keep wicket if selected.

“It’s been surprising to me every single day I’ve done some stuff, how well it’s responded,” Healy said. “I was pushed pretty hard yesterday. I was blowing pretty hard.

“We’ve done that on purpose to see what I can and can’t get through. I’ve pulled up really well. I’m really positive moving forward.”

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