Mitchell Starc’s Ashes spot in trouble after he was demoted to first change bowler in WTC

For more than a decade, Australian selectors have almost always been prepared to accept Mitchell Starc’s excesses as a commensurate trade-off for his brilliance. But is that over?

Mitchell Starc is like an Australian power cord. It is possible to use him in the UK but it can be fiddly and you need to have the right accompanying parts.

It is a cliche to speak of Starc providing a point of difference within the Australian pace battery, but as the sole left-armer in the group, it is a cliche based in truth.

He also bowls thunderbolt yorkers, tending to bring the stumps into play early in innings. Most memorably this came with his dismissal of Rory Burns at the Gabba with the opening ball of the 2021-22 Ashes.

But because of his pace, Starc is a higher-risk cricketer.

“There’s been plenty of times in the past where I’ve gone for more runs (than) the other guys,” Starc said after play on day three amid discussion about the composition of the Australian attack.

“The role I play is more of an aggressive role to bring in those stumps and bowl those fuller lengths and create those chances.”

For more than a decade, Australian selectors have almost always been prepared to accept Starc’s excesses as a commensurate trade-off for his brilliance.

Mitchell Starc was relegated to first change in the second innings. Picture: AFP Images

But pretty much exclusively that was on the basis he took the new ball, where he could blast out top order players.

Technically speaking, Starc did bowl with a new ball on day four at The Oval. But that was only because the umpires had to replace a deformed Dukes pill after six overs. Having gone at more than five runs per over in the first innings - when he was replaced after just two overs - Starc was relegated to being a first change bowler behind Pat Cummins and Scott Boland.

Only once since 2015 has Starc not taken the new ball in an Australian Test innings in which he has bowled. That came in the second innings at Manchester four years ago, Starc’s sole Test appearance that series.

Having been bypassed for the first three Tests, he was also dropped for the last.

With Josh Hazlewood supposed to be available for the first Ashes Test, it begs the question, is there a spot for Starc in Australia’s XI if he isn’t opening the bowling?

In a pre-tour interview with CODE Sports, Starc said that trying to change his game to suit English conditions was not a sustainable option for him. Looking back at 2019, he said that what had been best for the team had been worse for him individually.

“We all sort of bought into the whole economy thing and whilst that went really well for the group and we were able to retain the Ashes, it probably took away from my strengths and it took me a lot longer to readjust back into Australian conditions,” Starc said.

“Without having had too much thought about it, I’m not going to change the strengths of my game and if that means I’m not in an XI at a certain point, so be it.”

On the back of what has played out across the first four days of the World Test Championship final, they seem prescient words.

Does Starc bring the same value if he isn’t opening the bowling? Picture: AFP Images

He’s had moments of his best with the ball during this match, bouncing out Virat Kohli in the first innings and then shaping a beauty across Cheteshwar Pujara on Saturday afternoon. But he’s also been tonked, including being pulled by Rohit Sharma for six with the second ball he bowled in the second innings.

Conventional wisdom dictates that Nathan Lyon also benefits from having Mitchell Starc in the side because of the footmarks he generates as a left-armer, but the stats don’t back that up. Lyon’s Test bowling average with Starc in the team is actually marginally worse than his career mark.

The irony is that in one respect Starc has a very good record in England. That’s with the bat. He contributed 41 in a 93-run seventh-wicket partnership with Alex Carey on Saturday. That took his Test batting average in the UK to 28, higher than David Warner (25.74) and Usman Khawaja (17.78).

An extremely creative antidote to Bazball would be to place Starc at the top of the order as a pinch-hitter who could then bowl when things were clicking. It’s hard to envisage selectors ever getting that funky, but with the current trajectory it might be his only path into the XI.