Alyssa Healy reveals breakfast sledge sparked Mitchell Starc demolition

Mitchell Starc’s wife threw him to the mercy of hungry reporters after revealing an interesting exchange he had at breakfast on game-day.

Mitchell Starc further enhanced his reputation as a World Cup wrecking ball, taking four wickets as Australia defeated England by 64 runs at Lord’s, but the only thing any Australian journalist wanted to know about was his time at the breakfast table.

And not just whether he had three Weet-Bix or four on Tuesday morning. This was a full-blown investigation — and Starc has his wife to thank.

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The left-arm quick finished with 4/43 from 8.4 overs, giving him 19 wickets for the tournament, as he and partner in crime Jason Behrendorff (5/44) ripped the Poms to pieces.

During his demolition of the England batting order, Starc’s wife Alyssa — who plays for the Australian women’s cricket team — jumped on Twitter to suggest something at breakfast may have sparked her husband into action.

High fives 👋🏻 to the English bloke who fired up Mitch with some banter at breaky..... onya legend!!

— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) June 25, 2019

So when Starc was presented to reporters after the match, there were no questions to start about his masterful control of the swinging ball or incredible yorker to get rid of Ben Stokes.

Instead, it started with: “What happened at breakfast?”

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Told Alyssa had alerted the Twittersphere to a potential sledge, Starc said: “Someone was having a go at my strapping tape and me eating too much and how it was going to affect my bowling. I was just hungry.”

The press pack was just as hungry, but left unsatisfied by Starc’s morsel of information.

Who was it? “I dunno, some bloke in a suit,” Starc said.

And what was he eating? “A few poached eggs … three I think.”

This questioning went on for about a minute as scribes tried to get to the bottom of the morning’s unusual event. As journalists fired off questions one after the other, we learned: The man who sledged Starc was “old”, English and gave him a clip about his elbow strapping in particular.

But no, the seamer didn’t bite back. “It was just a bit of fun, he was having a laugh at my strapping tape and what I was eating so it’s all been good fun throughout the tour so far (with) the crowds and around hotels,” Starc said.

After taking two early wickets, Starc did the damage as he so often does with the old ball too, knocking over Stokes and Adil Rashid when brought back at the death by captain Aaron Finch.

His toe-crusher to rattle Stokes’ off stump when the all-rounder was on 89 and threatening to blast England to a remarkable victory was something special and earned rave reviews in commentary and on social media as a contender for the “ball of the tournament”.

“He’s a fantastic player, he’s one of their key batters,” Starc said. “We knew while he was batting we couldn’t just rest up and cruise, we had to try and take those wickets so fortunately I got one through the gate.

Satisfaction. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“I’ve said for a little while that execution’s part of this whole bowling group but for me personally, I’ve got a pretty simple one-day plan and for me it’s all about execution.

“To execute that ball exactly the way I wanted and to result in the way it did was pleasing for me, but just pleasing to contribute to the group again.”

Starc wasn’t the only one getting sledged on game day by people outside the cricket bubble. Poor James Vince copped a tweet from American AFL star Mason Cox after he was bowled by Behrendorff for a second-ball duck as he opened the batting in pursuit of Australia’s 7/285.

Quack quack James Vince! #WalkofShame#ENGvsAUS

— Mason Cox (@masonsixtencox) June 25, 2019

The Collingwood big man’s social media chat was salt into the wound for Vince, who has failed to grab his chance since replacing an injured Jason Roy at the top of the order. In three digs at this World Cup, the elegant right-hander has only mustered 40 runs.

Originally published as Alyssa Healy reveals breakfast sledge sparked Mitchell Starc demolition