Mitchell Starc by the numbers: Australian quick’s special slice of cricket history

Mitchell Starc will make history when he takes to the field in Kingston, becoming just the second Australian fast bowler to ever play 100 Test matches. These are the numbers behind an icon.

Mitchell Starc will make history when he takes to the field in Kingston, becoming just the second Australian fast bowler to ever play 100 Test matches.

These are the numbers behind one of Australia’s greatest ever bowlers, and the one that sets him apart from any cricketer in history.

SECOND BEHIND ONLY GLENN MCGRATH

Starc will be only the second fast-bowler to play 100 Tests for Australia, and the 15th from any nation (minimum 100 wicket) when he plays in the third match against the West Indies. That number includes all-rounders Jacques Kallis, Kapil Dev, Ben Stokes, Shaun Pollock and Ian Botham who could all push for selection on multiple fronts.

To put that in perspective, there are 125 fast bowlers who have taken 100 Test wickets – that’s only 12 per cent.

The Australian he is joining in that group is Glenn McGrath, who played 124 and is the only quick to have taken more Test wickets for the country with 562.

Starc, with 395, is looking to become just the fourth Australian to take 400, after Nathan Lyon (562), McGrat, and Shane Warne (708).

Starc has 40 more wickets than Australia’s next highest wicket-taker – Dennis Lillee with 355.

ONE OF ONE

Not only is Starc about to become the second Australian quick to reach 100 Tests, he’s already played a whopping 23 more than the next most capped fast bowler – Brett Lee (76).

The gap between Starc and Lee is somewhat fitting as it shows how much of an outlier Starc is.

While McGrath was a line-and-length bowler who could rely on his unerring accuracy and impeccable seam to do the job throughout his career, Starc started his as a speed demon and while the accuracy has come with age, he still operates predominantly in the mid-140s.

“I can’t fathom playing 100 games and keeping that kind of [145kph] speed,” Cummins said. “He’s just a warrior. Turns up every week and wants to play no matter what.”

One of the select few to have broken the 160kmh mark – he clocked 160.4kmh in 2015 – Starc will be the only bowler of that pace to have cracked the 100 Test club. Lee and Jeff Thomson (51) were the only others to play more than 50 Tests.

Mitchell Starc is one of one.

BETTER WITH AGE

Into his 15th year of Test cricket, Starc is quietly having one of his best to date, with his 22 wickets so far coming at an average 20.86. He has only averaged less than that across a calendar year on two occasions.

It is telling that his three best years have all come in the second half of his Test career, with his bowling average across his first 50 Tests sitting at 29.1, and his average since sitting at 25.62.

Speaking ahead of his 100th Test, coach Andrew McDonald spoke of Starc evolving from an erratic speedster to a reliable bowler for all conditions.

“As a younger bowler, it was all about speed and swing and getting the ball full,” McDonald said.

“If you look at the evolution of Mitchell Starc, it’s his ability to hold line and length now. He can do any role you want. He’s still got those full swinging deliveries, which we really encourage at the right time but he’s able to hold length and control the scoreboard.”

Surprisingly, that has not coincided with a less expensive bowler – he has a marginally worse economy now – but by every other major metric he is a better bowler, with an average close to 25.

NO LONGER THE MOP

They used to call Starc the mop because he would figuratively be the man to mop up the tail.

And while he’s still a man few tailenders want to face, it’s harder to for his critics to accuse him of padding his stats against the lowerorder nowadays.

Nearly a third of Starc’s wickets (31.84%) across his first 50 Tests came from batters 8-11 in the batting order. In his 49 Tests since that number has plummeted significantly to 23.19.

In this period, he’s actually taking fewer tailend wickets than both Nathan Lyon (36.77%/85 wickets) and Cummins (29.96%/68 wickets).

Originally published as Mitchell Starc by the numbers: Australian quick’s special slice of cricket history