Ricky Ponting, a former Australia captain and ICC Hall of Famer, looks back on the moment he knew Mitchell Starc had the goods.
Few bowlers get to 100 Tests or 400 wickets, but Starc has done both. This week he got to 400 in 15 balls, took 5 wickets and had his best figures of 6/9 as the West Indies scored a record low of 27 in Jamaica.
Ponting remembers when Starc was starting out and recalls a match between Australia and India at the WACA in 2012, Starc’s third Test. Starc was troubling Sachin Tendulkar with pace and movement, showing signs of his talent.
I remember he bowled a short ball to Sachin Tendulkar that got up under Sachin’s armpit and Sachin just hit it to short leg, Ponting said on the ICC Review.
Seeing that kind of pace and bounce and Sachin struggling to handle it, we all knew Mitchell Starc had something special, he said.
The former Australia captain praised Starc’s career which has spanned over 16 years and 292 international matches. Ponting says it was clear from early on that Starc was going to be a success.
He’s had a remarkable career, over 400 Test wickets. Anyone who saw him as a young player knew he was going to play 100 Tests and take 400 or 500 wickets for Australia, he said.
He’s tall, 6’5 and has always been fast, often bowling at 140-150 km/h. He can swing the new ball back into right-handers, he added.
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Starc has many achievements, two 50-over World Cup winner, T20 World Cup champion and World Test Championship winner. With 725 international wickets, Starc is a modern great.
Ponting says Starc has a constant desire to improve and add to his skills.
He’s improved greatly in terms of skill and mentally. He knows his body and his game better than ever, especially in the last few years, Ponting said.
He’s added a few different skills recently, like the three-quarters seam which has made his inswing even more effective and given him more variety, he said.
