Cricket News: Mitchell Starc could end his white-ball career to extend his Test days
Mitchell Starc recently dropped from the Australian side for their Super 12s clash against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup. When he opened up about the decision, he said that he had spoken to selector George Bailey and voiced his displeasure
Mitchell Starc: "Tests always come first… far and above white-ball cricket. I'll decide on the rest as I go""George and I have spoken and that is where it will stay, I had strong opinions on it and had a conversation, and that's where it is," Starc said after the second ODI against England.
However, there was one other tidbit that many either glossed over or just chose to focus on another time – he admitted he'd want to reduce his focus on white-ball cricket further to prolong his Test career.
"I spoke to George at length; it was a good conversation. Many different things were floated there. I still have ambitions to play T20 cricket for Australia, but it is a long time to the next one and a lot of water to go under the bridge. So we will face that when we get to that".
"Tests always come first… far and above white-ball cricket. I'll decide on the rest as I go, where my body is at and how I feel about it. I would love to, selection and form pending, continue playing Test cricket as long as I can."
It might seem impossible right now to imagine an Australian side, regardless of the format, without Starc; such has been the regularity of his selection and consistency of his performances.
However, he has long prioritised Test cricket over other formats. It's why he's chosen to skip playing in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for all these years.
And given that age is catching up to him – and the cricket calendar is continuing to get increasingly packed – it would make sense for him to drop a format soon enough.
Indeed, he hinted at the schedule as a crucial part of his eventual decision to step away from at least one format in the future.
"It's undoubtedly impossible to play every game as a three-format player. Over the last few years, we've seen that sometimes two Australian teams play simultaneously on different continents in different formats.
"They see a break and put a series on. Having those periods to rest may help me keep bowling at decent speeds for some time.
"I don't think playing three formats is something I can do for a long period of time moving forward now."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mitchell Starc 🤝 striking with the new ball<br><br>In the last 10 years, no-one has taken more ODI wickets in the first over of an innings 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/PBEXgVOiBX">pic.twitter.com/PBEXgVOiBX</a></p>— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1594118327219126272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's not a novel approach to prolonging one's career either – Ben Stokes, the current England Test captain, retired from ODIs to focus more on Test cricket.
And in Starc's case, the aim is also to remain injury free as long as possible. Pace bowlers put a lot of load on their bodies, and the fewer injuries they can suffer, the better.
It would seem weird to see Starc slowly start to wind down his career – but nothing lasts forever, especially in an era where cricket never stops.