Mark Waugh explains Australia’s Mitchell Starc snub, Bryan Fletcher weighs in on supplement scandal

An Aussie cricket legend has thrown his two cents in after rumours of a bombshell Ashes snub found their way out of Edgbaston.

It’s Ashes time, baby.

Mere weeks after a thrilling finish to the World Cup, Australia and England have a lot to live up to as the second stanza of the English summer of cricket commences.

The Aussies have reportedly lit a huge torch ahead of the five-Test campaign, controversially axing longtime opening bowler Mitchell Starc and opting for Victorian speedster James Pattinson instead.

Pattinson, who hasn’t played a Test in over three years while battling injury, is reportedly being thrust ahead of the left-armer despite him topping the bowlers at the World Cup with 27 wickets.

According to veteran cricket writer Robert Craddock, Starc is out of favour with selectors, who reportedly want workhorse seamer Peter Siddle to play in at least one of the first two Tests.

Australia’s most experienced seamer looks to be out of the mix.

James Pattinson’s hot run of form has seen him leapfrog a veteran.

Former Aussie batsman and selector Mark Waugh shed light on the polarising decision to drop the 52-Test star, suggesting it was a move to stem the runs with express quicks Pat Cummins and Pattinson also in the side.

“I think they’re looking for a bowler to hit the seam and bowl accurately,” Waugh said.

“I think with Pattinson in the team, they don’t like them together because they can leak runs. They want a more line and length bowler in Hazlewood.”

Craddock stirred the pot further on Wednesday, claiming there was a “secret sign” hidden in Cricket Australia’s contracts list that Starc had been falling out of favour. The 29-year-old fell well down the pecking order alongside Josh Hazlewood on the baggy green rich list, with fellow seamer Pat Cummins topping the pile with a cool $2 million contract ahead of Steve Smith and David Warner.

Former Aussie quick Geoff Lawson was pulling his hair out over the decision to leave out Starc, an accomplished swinger of the ball at 150 clicks.

“It’s quite amazing to me,” Lawson told Sky Sports Radio. “They’re using Duke balls, got the best left-arm attacking swing bowler in the world in Mitchell Starc and you’re not going to play him, when you know the ball is going to swing and he’s absolutely dynamic. So I just find that astonishing.”

A typically overcast week is forecast for Birmingham with rain likely to put a dent in the battle for the First Test.

SUPPLEMENT BOMB ‘COULDN’T COME AT A WORSE TIME’

Shayna Jack was the topic of some ugly headlines this week.

Aussie swimmer Shayna Jack faces an uphill battle as she fights to prove her innocence following a bombshell supplement scandal this week.

The freestyle star, who was part of Australia’s 4x100m freestyle team that set a world record in 2018, tested positive to the banned drug Ligandrol, which aids the growth of muscle.

The 20-year-old was notified by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority that she will be forced out of the pool for four years should she be found guilty.

Former Australian rugby league star Bryan Fletcher said the nuclear scandal came at a cruel time, mere days after Mack Horton’s public joust with Chinese swimmer Sun Yang.

Horton refused to stand on the podium with Yang — who served a doping ban in 2014 — at the recent Swimming World Championships in South Korea.

“It couldn’t come at a worse time after Mack Horton and his protest,” Fletcher said. “(Obviously) he didn’t know — but it just looks bad. It looks suss.”

‘It couldn’t come at a worse time after Mack Horton and his protest’

Fletcher suggested Jack will have a tough slog proving her innocence as her four-year suspension looms.

“You’re supposed to read the bottle. You get all the warnings and they get so much education (about supplements and doping),” he said.

Jack’s manager Phil Stoneman insisted she did not ingest the drug via supplement tablets.

“It could be meat, it could be mushrooms, it could be anything. It could be something in a bottle,” Stoneman told the ABC.

“It’s a bit of jigsaw puzzle as to how this has come into her system.”