Starc revives memories of big Bruce Reid

MENACING Mitchell Starc revived memories of one of the most under-rated bowlers in Australian cricket history yesterday.

MENACING Mitchell Starc revived memories of one of the most under-rated bowlers in Australian cricket history yesterday.

When it comes to lanky Australian left-armers, bowling bean pole Bruce Reid is the modern yardstick by which all others are measured - and normally found wanting.

Perth-based Reid had it all - pace, swing, seam and accuracy; everything except a body which could stand the rigours of international cricket.

The two magnificent Starc inswingers which rocked back the off-stumps of Alviro Petersen and Jacques Kallis in successive overs were among the gems of the summer - balls Reid would have been proud to call his own.

Reid missed the action yesterday because he was playing golf at Mt Lawley but Starc's success did not surprise him.

"I like him - he has really improved over the last 12 months because he is higher in his action and his front arm is working harder," Reid told The Daily Telegraph.

"He has a nice fluent run to the crease and almost seems to have something in reserve."

Kallis's dismissal was a memorable triumph because his stumps are harder to shift than a dam wall.

The last time his stumps were rattled before yesterday was 27 innings ago against Pakistan.

HAMSTRUNG

Kallis had barely reached the dressing room after being bowled by Starc when heads were shaking that South Africa would field a batsman with a strained hamstring.

It's one thing for a batsman to bat in a game after he has been injured because he is a hero for simply taking the crease, as he was in Adelaide.

But it's a different mindset entering the game with that injury.

THE PACE SQUEEZE

SO what's the pecking order in Australia's pace battery now?

Peter Siddle will come back into the side after his enforced rest but what of Ben Hilfenhaus?

Selectors face some interesting selection problems if their bowlers continue to dominate in Perth.

Australia's bowlers were magnificent yesterday but a word of caution ... this is prancing Perth.

After toiling on flat decks in Brisbane and AdelaideSiddle must feel like the boy who ate bread and dripping all year but missed the Christmas buffet.

THE OTHER MITCH

IT's too early to scream "he's baaaaack." Let's just say Mitchell Johnson is on the way.

Dean Elgar's top edged pull which was caught behind was Johnson's first wicket of the innings and the sixth to fall. But he had made a rousing impact before that, smacking Graeme Smith on the hand, reviving memories of the way he broke his hand in Sydney four

years ago.

The stats may not show it but Australia needed Johnson yesterday. He was the muscle man you must have to make waiting batsmen squirm on their seats in the dressing room. Johnson pushed the speedometer into the mid-140kph.

The old Mitch surfaced occasionally with leg-side offerings which were picked off but generally his work was encouraging.

UNNATURAL SELECTION

There is just something strange about the way South Africa select sides.

Faf du Plessis gave cricket one of the innings of the decade in Adelaide this week and yet he is chosen at number seven in Perth.

Again he looked as composed and correct as anyone. But by the time he got to the crease the innings was in total crisis mode.

The South Africans are a difficult team to read - for most of the year they are among the most mentally tough cricketers on the planet but they can also be infamously fragile.