By Andrew Wu
Soon-to-be crowned pace king Mitchell Starc is being tipped by former stars to reign forever over Test cricket’s left-arm fast bowlers.
Twelve years after Mitchell Johnson etched his name into Ashes folklore, Starc is on the way to emulating his former teammate with his own career-defining series against the old enemy.
Mitchell Starc is poised to become Test cricket’s greatest left-arm pace bowler.Credit: Getty Images
Armed with a new weapon to unleash on England’s Bazballers, pink-ball destroyer Starc heads into the day/night Test with a 32-year record on the verge of tumbling.
Since December 1993, Wasim Akram has stood atop Test cricket’s wicket-takers’ list for left-arm pacemen, but he will almost certainly be dethroned in the coming days by Starc, who needs just three more wickets to pass the Pakistan great’s 414 wickets.
Depending on the result of the toss on Thursday, it’s not inconceivable Starc may have already raised the pink ball to a packed house by the first break at the venue where four years ago he famously started the 2021-22 Ashes series by bowling Rory Burns.
Just as Akram gave future left-arm quicks a massive target to chase when he overhauled the late Australian great Alan Davidson, Starc is set to do likewise.
England great Michael Vaughan says 500 wickets is not out of the Australian’s reach.
Though Starc, 35, is nearing the twilight of his career, he is not showing the telltale signs of age. He remains fit, and his pace has not dropped.
Records are made to be broken, it is said, but Starc’s impending mark is likely to stand the test of time. Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi and South Africa’s Marco Jansen, on 121 and 89 wickets respectively, are not yet at base camp.
Aged 25, both men have time on their side but would need to buck the modern trend and sacrifice the big dollars on the Twenty20 circuit to play the 100-plus Tests needed to challenge Starc. World Test champions South Africa are not due to play another Test until October.
“I can’t imagine he will stop at the end of this series, he could easily get to 500,” Vaughan, a commentator for Kayo for the Ashes, told this masthead.
“He’ll clearly get past Wasim. The numbers that Starc will end up with, that (former right-arm England paceman) Jimmy Anderson has ended up with, they’re not going to be beaten in time. Those records will last forever.”
Former swing king Damien Fleming agrees.
“Countries have to play that many Test matches, and his uniqueness as a left-armer, there’s a few scenarios that come into play,” Fleming said. “He might set records that will never be broken.”
By following Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in adding the wobble-seam delivery to his arsenal, Starc is no longer as reliant as he once was on swing – be it of the conventional variety with the new ball or reverse swing with the old.
Starc last week told The Fast Bowling Cartel podcast the wobble-seam ball made him a better bowler by making him more technically sound. This, Starc said, improved his accuracy and added a defensive element to his game.
Fleming, a co-host of the podcast with pace greats Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, said the higher release point needed to bowl the wobble-seam delivery had given the left-armer more control than when he bowls the in-swinger into the right-hander.
“I think he’s become more accurate since the wobble-seam has become the stock ball,” Fleming told this masthead. “The in-swinger threat is always there. He can bowl it less and he’s more impactful.”
After an Ashes-best 10-wicket haul in Perth, Starc has laid the foundations for a series to rival Johnson’s career-defining campaign in 2013-14 when he terrorised England’s batters.
A white-ball wizard, Starc already has a legacy in the shorter formats. He now has the opportunity to do likewise in the series Australian cricket fans care most about.
“I’ve always thought he was an incredible bowler,” Vaughan said.
“This is his chance to really put himself in the lights of all the greats that have played for Australia in the Ashes series. He’s started so well. He can be the bowler that makes the difference for Australia. He’s got that ability to bowl unplayable balls.
“His story’s a good one. He’s turned down [money in] India and the IPL to focus on his Test career. Ben Stokes has done a similar thing so he can play Test cricket for as long as he possibly can. I hope those guys get the reward for it because there’s not many in this generation who would do that.”
An average of five wickets per game for Starc, who has returned career-best figures in his past two Tests, would take him to 30 wickets in an Ashes series for the first time and join greats such as McGrath, Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee.
“Once you get to 30, there’s not many bowlers who have done that [in five-match series],” Fleming said. “To get 30 at the age of 35 and help Australia win it, it’ll continue his legacy. His legacy can grow.”
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