‘It’s the bowling, stupid’: how Mitchell Starc sent New Zealanders spiralling out of control
Selected for just one Ashes Test, Mitchell Starc has honed his bowling technique and the Kiwis have paid the price. Plus, should Marnus Labuschagne be considered for the captaincy?
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To paraphrase the successful 1992 Bill Clinton US election slogan, “it’s the bowling, stupid”.
While Australia may have compiled a daunting total thanks to another Marnus Labuschagne masterpiece, it was the powerful left-arm of a rejuvenated Mitchell Starc that sent the New Zealanders spiralling out of control.
Down a man with Josh Hazlewood injured, Starc tore through the New Zealand middle-order to put himself in a position to claim yet another hat-trick.
He missed his third victim — the erstwhile veteran Ross Taylor — but he’d already done serious damage by removing the formidable Kane Williamson via an extremely athletic and skilful Steve Smith catch.
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Starc has gone from an Ashes afterthought to the bowling attack dog in a few short months. By rejigging his load-up just prior to delivery, Starc is producing a much more consistent release point without compromising his speed or swing.
With Hazlewood absent and no allrounder to fall back on, Australia needed quick wickets and that is exactly what an in-form Starc delivered.
Back in the removalist business, Starc’s ambushes were exactly what Australia was hoping for after the timely end to their innings just before sunset.
If you bat first and play well in a day/night Test, bowling under lights can be a great advantage and the tactical battle can become even more pronounced as the players slug it out with willow and leather.
Australia’s challenging total was fortified by another brilliant Labuschagne century — move over Steve Smith, there’s a new run machine in the Australian batting line-up.
Labuschagne scored his third consecutive Test century and in doing so he outscored and out-batted his confidante Smith. Where Smith struggled to find the middle of the bat and gain any momentum, Labuschagne was little troubled by a probing New Zealand attack and completed his century in style by lofting Mitchell Santner for six.
Labuschagne has now joined some of the biggest batting names in Australian cricket — among them, Don Bradman, Arthur Morris, Adam Gilchrist, Charlie Macartney and teammate David Warner (twice) — in scoring three consecutive Test centuries. He needs one more to equal former opener Jack Fingleton as the only Australian to do it four times.
If he really is the greedy type — and signs suggest he is — he could then try for five to equal the great West Indies batsman Everton Weekes, the only man to score five consecutive Test centuries.
However, it’s not just run scoring where Labuschagne is challenging Smith. Ever since Tim Paine’s appointment as Australian captain in demanding circumstances, there has been the feeling that Smith will regain the leadership role as the only viable replacement when the gloveman decides to call it a day.
Maybe, just maybe, Australia now does have another captaincy candidate in Labuschagne. It’s early days yet but he has one important ingredient for a captain: he’s a certainty to be selected.
To score his third successive century, Labuschagne had to overcome the admirable endeavours of New Zealand left-armer Neil Wagner. This may have been Australia versus New Zealand at the Perth Stadium, but with Labuschagne and the tireless Wagner going head-to-head, it was a battle for African supremacy.
Both men were born in South Africa: Wagner in Pretoria and Labuschagne eight years later in Klerksdorp. In the end, both men were winners for their adopted countries — Labuschagne got a century but Wagner claimed his wicket.
Wagner chiselled out the prized wicket by cleverly mixing his tactics between shrewd swing bowling and well-directed short-pitched stuff.
When I first saw Wagner, I pigeonholed him as being solely a fast bowling thug who continually banged the ball into the pitch, but he’s evolved into a well-rounded practitioner who occasionally resorts to a pub brawl.
Wagner may be a son of South Africa, but he epitomises New Zealand cricket — give it all you’ve got in using up every bit of talent available and expend every ounce of energy.
In the end, the sublime skills of Labuschagne and Starc were too much for the battling Kiwis, who were hampered by the early loss of fast-bowling debutant Lockie Ferguson.
Nevertheless, Australia was made to fight hard for every centimetre gained and it wasn’t until Starc’s multiple strikes that the advantage began to be measured in metres.
After all, it’s batsmen who set up games but it’s the bowlers who win Test matches.
