Do you remember that vicious delivery that darted in from the towering arms of Mitchell Starc clipping the timbre of James Vince? It changed its direction completely, beating the right-hander by late movement and leaving the world in absolute awe.
There was a million-dollar question in the Australian ranks that who would replace Mitchell Johnson once his reign came to an end. There was a bevy of fast bowlers waiting to take the mantle but no one seemed to be as fierce as Johnson with Shaun Tait being the only one to come close. However, an injury-infested career left him reeling out of the game prematurely.
That is when the magic unfolded. A 6’4 southpaw came forth and started peppering stalwarts of the game with some nasty bouncers and short balls. Initially, it seemed to be the passionate burst of someone who is trying to solidify his residence in the international arcade but as time started whizzing by, this young man started getting a lot more lethal.
As the years passed by, the towering monster started calming down and eventually became into a weapon of might that formed one strand of the Australian fast bowling trident in the forthcoming days to come which would deracinate empires.
Mitchell Starc started leading the Australian bowling attack with all his experience and might that left the world reeling in agony. At times it would be short balls being hammered to break one’s resolve while the other occasions will stay witness to some brutal toe-crushing bullets that would leave the batters shoehorned in a bubble.
Sadly, for the Australian express man, things started taking a sharp decline with Mitchell Starc barely prising out something significant after 2019. It felt like a tempest for the man who was deemed unplayable after that sublime jaffa in the Ashes against James Vince.
Wickets simply refused to come by no matter what he tried. It felt as if the pace on his deliveries were receding while he could hardly hit the bull’s eye when he attempted the yorker. It felt as if he was impacted by his steeply falling performance more than the surroundings.
It was in 2021 when the management believed that he should remain a constant in the shortest format of the games. When Australia struggled away from home, it was Mitchell Starc who led the charge, instilling hopes in the formidable unit that relied on his pace to counterpunch their opponents.
Wickets were still hard to come by but he started producing those rippers that once defined his very existence. The balls started moving left and right while the speedometer started exhibiting the 143 plus figures again.
Especially when the contest arrives in any SENA nation, the pace is an important factor in terms of the brutality that the surfaces offer to the bowlers. That is exactly where Starc comes into the fold.
There is a new change that the fast bowler is embracing and it is from eyeing for the wickets to wringing out the crucial dot balls. Even though he is still lightyears away from being the menace that he was, the return is evident.
The recently concluded T20 World Cup saw him bagging 9 wickets that would be a silverlining for the man who once terrorized the batters. His story is more of a survival than being of a stubborn fighter.
Realising the fact that wickets are not coming by, Mitchell Starc changed his stance to something that would allow him to survive in the hostile international pastures. He is currently treading a deadly path but if you choose to give a moribund soul one last glimmer of hope and he would cling onto that with the last bit of life left in his body.
