The Ashes 2017: Mitchell Starc ruled out of Boxing Day Test with injury as Jackson Bird gets call
UPDATE: MITCHELL Starc said it would have been “selfish” to put his own Boxing Day ambitions ahead of the team as Jackson Bird prepares for his first Test in 12 months.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
MITCHELL Starc said it would have been “selfish” to put his own Boxing Day ambitions ahead of the team and will now rest up and try to get back for the series conclusion in Sydney.
A 30-second conversation with team medical staff on Sunday morning was enough to rule the star Australian paceman out of the Test as his MCG curse continued.
As expected Jackson Bird will take Starc’s spot as the single change for the Aussie line-up pushing to go 4-0 up against England at the MCG.
FIGHTING WORDS: HANDSCOMB HITS CRITICS FOR SIX
MISSING: NO HOMETOWN HEROES IN BOXING DAY TEST
BOUNCERS: SMITH WON’T EASE UP ON POMS
HISTORIC: SEVEN GREAT MCG ASHES TESTS
Starc, who has 19 wickets through the three Ashes Tests so far, has played just once on Boxing Day since his Test debut in 2011.
But conscious of the prolonged effect a bruised heel has had on his bowling teammates Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, Starc said missing was his only real option.
“It’s never nice to miss but it would be pretty selfish of me to go in to a game not at 100 per cent,” Starc said.
“It’s nice that we have won the series and we can play it a little bit safer now.
“I still feel like I could have played on it but it would have been selfish to go in underdone, so I think common sense prevailed.
“I think the discussions lasted about 30 seconds … and it gives me a good chance now to have a bit of time off it over the next few days and give me a really good chance for Sydney.”
Starc conceded that a bruised heel sound like a “nothing” injury and his scan showed no damage to anything other than the “fat pad” of his foot.
But he said pushing through could have made it worse.
“When you are bowling at nine times your body weight through your front foot it can be a bit sore,” Strac said.
“Both Josh and Pat have been through it before … it can hang around a while. Some can heal quicker, that has been in the conversations the last couple of days, making sure it’s not something that can keep me out for 10 more games.
“Hopefully it’s all good in the next few days and I can prepare well for Sydney.”
Wicketkeeper Tim Paine joined his teammates on Sunday morning having caught an early flight from Hobart.
Paine had remained in Tasmania for an extra few days following the Perth win after his father-in-law suffered a stroke.
Josh Hazlewood will now lead the pace attack and said Starc, who has played just one Boxing Day Test since his Australian debut in 2011, was naturally disappointed.
“We were joking around but they are still a little bit off limits around Boxing Day. He has been unlucky,” Hazlewood said.
Starc’s availability for the fifth Test in Sydney remains unknown, but he has been urged by teammate Pat Cummins to be extra cautious with the injury.
Cummins endured a bruised heel bowling in his Test debut in South Africa in 2011, and it turned in to a stress fracture which led to extra time on the sidelines.
“It’s one of those ones, you can’t strap it differently, you can’t bowl off the other foot. It’s hard to hide from,” Cummins said.
“You have to get it early enough and try not to really damage it. It’s a long process to get it right.”
Originally published as The Ashes 2017: Mitchell Starc ruled out of Boxing Day Test with injury as Jackson Bird gets call