The Ashes 2019: Mitchell Starc adapting to background role as James Pattinson hits ground running

Mitchell Starc knows where he sits in the new Aussie Test bowling pecking order, at least for now. But he’s no less determined to make an impact this Ashes series when given the chance.

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Standing on the outside looking in as a Test series gets underway isn’t a position Mitchell Starc is used to being in.

But the 29-year-old taker of 211 Test wickets conceded “the cupboard is full of fast bowlers” and said he’ll work hard and wait until he’s called on to makes his Ashes entrance.

Starc, man of the match in his last Test against Sri Lanka after taking 10 wickets, played nothing but white ball cricket from that Test until the end of Australia’s World Cup campaign in July.

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Mitchell Starc got among the wickets in Worcester but leaked a lot of runs.

He took a new world record 24 wickets in the World Cup, but might not be needed for the Ashes until the third Test at least.

“Everyone prefers to play but it’s pretty exciting that the cupboard is full of fast bowlers,” Starc said after taking two wickets in the tour game at Worcester.

Plenty in the Aussie camp believe Starc bowled some of his fastest balls of the tour in that game, twice hitting Worcestershire batsmen on the helmet.

But he knows where he sits in the new pecking order, at least for now.

“It’s awesome to see Jimmy (Pattinson) back after what he’s been through and, I guess, similarly what Pat Cummins has been through previously,” Starc said.

Starc is trying to improve his control with the red ball.

“I think that’s really exciting from a bowling point of view, that we’re all a really close set of mates. To see your mates work it back and pull on the baggy green again and perform so well in the Test match, that’s exciting for us.

“It makes Josh (Hazlewood) and I have to work that bit harder to try and make it back as well, which I think you want from a whole squad. So having that competition there whether it be Josh and I playing or a different two playing, it is that squad mentality.

“We’re here to win the Ashes. We’re not just here to make it on the park.”

Despite his outstanding World Cup return, Starc’s need to adjust to bowling with a red-ball again has been cited by both coach Justin Langer and captain Tim Paine as one of the reasons why he was overlooked for the first Test.

Despite being a “wicket taker” as one-time Test bowling partner Josh Hazlewood called him, Starc knows he has a propensity to leak runs, which is in contrast to Australia’s need for control this series.

James Pattinson impressed on his return to the Test team at Edgbaston.

“That is sort of a balance that I’ve I guess slowly gotten better at playing through 2013 and 2015 (Ashes series in England),” he said.

“I’ve been conscious of that and trying to build pressure from both ends.

“I still try and keep everything pretty simple, whether it be white ball or red ball, it’s just you’ve got to do it for longer with the red ball.”

Starc said he hadn’t been told he wouldn’t be needed at Lord’s next week, and was ready to go if conditions dictated he play.

“Obviously the boys did really well at Edgbaston. They’ve had a good break between Tests. Everyone is fit and firing – the three (fast bowlers) that played are rested up,” he said.

“So exciting times for the whole Ashes tour to have a really quality bowing line-up ready to go in any conditions. If called up at Lord’s I’m ready to go as well.”