Back in 2015, then-captain Steve Smith heaped a lot of praise on Mitchell Starc saying he would continue to be the leader of Australia’s bowling attack for the next five years.
Cut to this day, 10 years have passed, and the speedster is still leading the attack with more venom than ever.
Not in one, but in multiple formats.
It’s hard to imagine the Starc we are witnessing today has not always been recognised in Test cricket.
This claim is supported by his partial snubbing in Ashes 2019, as the paceman was overlooked for the most part of the series, featuring only in a couple of matches.
Some might opine that in Tests, he was a bit in the shadow of his bowling partners – Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
For a long time, the narrative was that his bowling was sometimes wayward and that he leaked runs while Hazlewood and Cummins were drying up the opposition’s scoring options.
Perhaps it was true, but even then, it wasn’t really much of a big deal. Because, when you’re an attacking bowler like Starc, you’re hunting for wickets, and sometimes you leak runs in the process.
And to his credit, he has kept on taking wickets even when he wasn’t at his best.
That has been his role for more than a decade, and his record of taking wickets in the first over speaks for itself.
Despite his success, the fast bowler has received a lot of criticism throughout his Test career until the first delivery of the Ashes 2021.
That famous delivery that knocked over Rory Burns’ stumps and made the crowd go berserk probably revitalised Starc’s journey in Tests.
Being the devastating swing bowler that he is, he has taken countless wickets with his inswinger, which has been a part of his natural skill set. However, over the last four years, he has added another skill to his repertoire with the “wobble seam”.
This delivery, which moves away from the batter, is an effective ball in and of itself, but it has made his inswinger even more dangerous. The results are all too clear for everyone to see.
Mitchell Starc. (Photo by Jan Kruger-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
When it comes to fast bowling, the world celebrates the likes of Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram and Curtly Ambrose, to name a few.
Some are regarded highly for raw pace like Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar; some for accuracy, like McGrath and Shaun Pollock. Nonetheless, Starc has revolutionised a completely new category and he is ruling it.
It’s said that fast bowlers usually peak around age 25 to 28. They tend to see a dip in their performances when they enter their mid-thirties. And then there’s Starc, who is only getting better each day.
It’s not like there weren’t any bowlers bowling above 145 clicks in their 30s – there were quite a few of them. But in that phase of their career, none were bowling with the same impact and tenacity as Starc.
And they were definitely not playing multiple forms of cricket at age 35.
The Aussie quick won a World Cup in India at 33, the IPL at 34, while making significant contributions. And at almost 36, he is ripping through England’s batting lineup like he is playing grade cricket instead of the Ashes, stamping his legacy in a way no one has managed before.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
When most bowlers retire from the longest format of the game as they get older, Starc has retired from T20 internationals to focus more on Tests, and everything is coming along nicely for him.
The premier fast bowler has surpassed Wasim Akram to become the most prolific left-arm quick of all time in Tests, raising his tally of wickets to 420. The pace is still high, and the consistency keeps getting stronger as well. Only two matches of this Ashes have gone by, and the bloke has already taken 18 wickets.
In the absence of Hazlewood and Cummins, he always seems to deliver better. He might not be the captain, but he definitely leads through his performances when the onus is on him.
On top of that, his batting lately has been as good as a top-order batter. It’s not a fluke that the southpaw has scored the highest number of runs as a No.9 in the history of Test cricket. At this point, it would be unfair if Starc doesn’t have a Test century next to his name by the end of his career.
Given his knack of standing up on big occasions and based on his contributions through the bat, ball, and in the field, Mitchell Aaron Starc’s career is shaping up to be that of a legend.