Starc bowling ‘rockets’ but Josh Hazlewood now in control

Control the key as Australia weigh up their pace options before the second Test at Lord’s.

Left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc is congratulated after taking a wicket in the tour match against Worcestershire. Picture: Getty Images

Control is the bowling buzzword Australia hope will lead them to a victorious Ashes campaign and that makes Josh Hazlewood next in line for a Test call-up if any changes are made.

But nine wickets in two World Cup games at Lord’s, including four against England and that of Test captain Joe Root in June, could yet bring strike weapon Mitchell Starc in to the second Test conversation in the quest for a 2-0 lead.

A juiced-up Lord’s pitch to help England dismiss man-of-the-moment Steve Smith could be on the cards too, which could yet impact selection.

Air speed is Starc’s key weapon and it was on constant display during his record-breaking World Cup campaign and again in 15.5 fired up overs in the tour match at Worcester.

Starc sent the stumps of tailender Charlie Morris flying, but was called for a no-ball. He finished with figures of 2-56, but couldn’t get Morris again, as the tailender knocked out his maiden half-century.

The figures were however less relevant than the output, and after a return of 3-34 Josh Hazlewood said he felt he bowled the best he had all tour.

“I’m bowling exactly how I want it, swinging when I want it. I’m feeling really comfortable with where I am at the moment,” he said.

Former Test batsmen Callum Ferguson, who is playing for Worcestershire this season, agreed and said Hazlewood “had it right”.

Hazlewood has played just one Test at Lord’s, in 2015, when he said he was “quite inexperienced”. But in just his sixth Test match, Hazlewood took 5-88 across two innings in that game.

The famously sloping wicket at Lord’s has prompted plenty to call for Starc’s inclusion in Wednesday’s second Test to exploit it.

But Hazlewood said he got used to it “pretty quickly”, a feeling reflected in his figures in that game.

Starc, like Hazlewood, has also played just the one Test there, and took 2-102 in that same match in 2015.

Ferguson, who played his only Test with Starc in an infamous loss to South Africa in Hobart in 2016, said the left-armer was bowling “rockets” at Worcester, but lacked the control of his teammates and had probably got his line “a little bit wrong”.

Changes for Lord’s are unlikely but Hazlewood, who has hardly missed a Test through anything other than injury since his debut in 2014 before this series, said the squad mentality of the bowling group wasn’t just spin.

He said winning the Ashes was an all-in effort, and that Australia had their bowling bases covered.

“I think there will be a bit more in it (the Lord’s pitch), but maybe that’s so they can get Smithy out,” Hazlewood said.

“And I think it suits us as much as them if there is more in the wicket. I think that’s why they (selectors) have got six quicks, to have all bases covered.

“It’s pretty stiff competition at the moment … but we all wanted everyone else to do really well as a group and try and win the Ashes as a group of six.”

HERALD SUN