The first Ashes 2023 kick-started on Friday, June 16, at the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham.
The hype for this England vs Australia 2023 series couldn’t have been louder. It’s the Test revolutionizing England’s Bazball team that has won 11 matches and lost only 2 under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. They are up against Pat Cummins’ reigning World Test Champions Australian team.
While England had announced their playing XI a couple of days before the first Test, Australia took their time and Pat Cummins confirmed it only at the toss that it was Mitchell Starc who was going to be benched for this Edgbaston Test as Australia went with Boland and Hazlewood as two seamers to join Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon in the bowling attack, which also includes Cameron Green.
It was a big, and as Cummins admitted “tough” call to drop Starc out of the XI, depriving them not only of his vast experience, but also of a left-arm bowler in their attack. 310 wickets in 78 Tests and the fastest of the Australian pace attack, yet Starc couldn’t find a place in the first England vs Australia Test.
However, there are a few reasons why Australia have Mitchell Starc from the XI for 1st Ashes Test:
Scott Boland had made himself undroppable
The major selection headache for Australia was made by the supreme form of Scott Boland and a dream start to his Test career. In 9 Test matches, Boland has picked up 33 wickets at a scarcely belivable average of 14! He was terrific in the WTC Final against India, returning with figures of 2/59 and 3/46, which included wickets of Kohli and Jadeja in the same over. Boland had all but sealed his position in the XI for the first greatest rivalry Test with a superb show in the WTC Final.
Hazlewood pipped over Mitchell Starc, who can be expensive and leak runs
Josh Hazlewood was returning from an injury, and although he’s played in only 2 Tests in the last two years because of injuries, Hazlewood brings more control over the opposition’s run rate than Mitchell Starc, who has a tendency to be disarrayed with his lines and leak runs and be expensive, as he was in the WTC Final.
In England, Hazlewood has a brilliant record of 36 wickets in 9 Tests at 23; Starc, on the other hand, has an average of 31 in 10 Tests in England.
Rotation of bowlers throughout the 5 Tests
Not being selected in the first Test is only an indication of where Australia see Boland and Hazlewood over Starc in these conditions, where there won’t be much reverse swing either. However, Mitchell Starc would likely come into play as the series progresses because Australia will be rotating their bowlers.
