Mitchell Starc demonstrates his greatness in the IPL Final, but not without a painful trade-off

James Anderson and Stuart Broad both excelled in their 30s. And in that same age bracket, Mitchell Starc has taken the level up a notch for the veteran fast bowling brigade, writes DANIEL CHERNY.

For those who have told Mitch Starc he cannot have his cake and eat it, see Exhibit A: the flying off-bail of Abhishek Sharma.

That Starc was barely a factor much of the Indian Premier League season is now but a footnote.

Player of the match in Kolkata’s two finals wins, Starc vindicated the faith placed in him by the Knight Riders last December, when they coughed up the most expensive cheque in league history to sign a player who had resisted the IPL for the best part of a decade and who had been dropped from Australia’s Twenty20 side during the most recent World Cup.

Abhishek Sharma is bowled by Starc in the IPL Final. Picture: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images

The timing is perfect not only for KKR, now three-time IPL champions, but also for Australia, who will inherit arguably the nation’s finest white-ball bowler for next month’s T20 World Cup just as he hits his straps after the best part of 18 months away from the format.

Should he back up his IPL finals form in the Caribbean, Starc will have pulled off one of the more remarkable juggling acts in cricket history: managing to perform when most needed across all three formats as an express quick well into his 30s.

Commentators have rightly marvelled at the feats of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowling deep into their 30s – and in Anderson’s case beyond – continuing to fire for England.

But whereas Anderson hasn’t played a T20 match in almost a decade, and Broad eschewed white-ball cricket over the final six years of his career, Starc hasn’t had to choose which bowl of porridge is just right, he’s known when to take a nibble at each of them.

In the last 12 months, Starc has been the leading wicket-taker in an Ashes series, taken three-fers in a winning one-day World Cup semi-final and final, and twice in playoffs dismantled the most imposing opening combination – Sharma and Travis Head – of the heaviest-scoring professional T20 tournament in history.

Though not breaking through the 150-kmh mark as he once did, Starc is still routinely tipping over 140 km/h.

That probably doesn’t get mentioned enough for a man who turned 34 in January and has more than 35,000 balls in professional cricket on his odometer, let alone those delivered in the nets over the years.

There is a trade-off though. Starc has played through injury, and has had to forego a bit of research and development to allow his body to recover.

A couple of days before the Christchurch Test earlier this year in which he moved past Dennis Lillee on the list of Australian Test wicket-takers, Starc revealed an early piece of advice from former Australian coach Tim Nielsen who had in essence none-too-subtly told the young tearaway to “harden the f*** up” when it came to playing sore.

Mitchell Starc in action during that Christchurch Test. Picture: Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

Reflecting on Monday about that sentiment, Nielsen suggested that Starc had found the balance between honing his skills and ensuring he was at his best.

“It’s rare to be 100 per cent at that level, you just don’t get the luxury of going half pace to get through at any stage,” Nielsen said.

“I think everyone could see what Starcy could offer, a tall, left-arm quick bowling around 150, so we were obviously keen for him to play as much as possible, and that meant playing with soreness at times. He learnt quickly, is obviously so talented and I believe has relished the opportunity to lead the attack over a long period.

“The biggest challenge is finding the happy mix of training and performing, and I feel if you need to sacrifice bowling at training to rest and recover, I think that is the right way to go. There is a natural want to feel 100 per cent in control of skills going into Test matches and international cricket, which can lead to overdoing it in prep a bit, but also the player needs to be encouraged and challenged to arrive feeling physically and mentally strong sometimes at the cost of feeling 100 per cent in control of skills, especially bowlers.

“Ultimately the player learned that through experience and doing it … coaches can support and provide the environment which allows this to happen.”

Tim Nielsen during an Australian training session in 2011. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

At various stages over the past year it has looked as though Starc was a touch short of a gallop. He was errant in the World Test Championship final against India that preceded the Ashes, profligate through the league stage of the World Cup and freely walloped during the IPL regular season.

And yet he was named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year and keeps collecting trophies for his teams, this time at the expense of Head and Pat Cummins, part of the vanquished Sunrisers Hyderabad outfit.

The two empty slots on the mantle at the moment are the T20 World Cup and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, arenas where he has tended to fade at the pointy end of proceedings. The evidence of the last 12 months however would suggest Starc is bowling better as series go on, a welcome change from 2021 when he was nullified by India on the fateful final day at the Gabba and then thrashed for 60 against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final, a match Australia won.

Chances for redemption are nigh.

Originally published as Mitchell Starc demonstrates his greatness in the IPL Final, but not without a painful trade-off