Australia made a strong start to their Ashes 2023 campaign with a two-wicket victory over England at Edgbaston. In a surprising move, captain Pat Cummins decided to drop Mitchell Starc and include Josh Hazlewood, who had recovered from an injury. Despite missing out on the first Test, Starc expressed his acceptance of the decision, stating that he is accustomed to such situations while playing in England and it’s nothing new to him.
The team management faced the challenging task of leaving out their key seamer for the opening match. Starc acknowledged his experience of being dropped before in England and conveyed his acceptance of the situation.
“I’m used to it now coming to England. It’s a squad mentality, much the same as last time. Been around long enough, been dropped enough. Probably dropped the most in this squad. Not something new to me, won’t be the last time, either. It’s never fun, everyone wants to play,”
Starc said.
Starc’s limited involvement in the 2019 Ashes in England saw him feature in only one match at Old Trafford. However, there is a possibility of him being included in the second Test at Lord’s if seamer Scott Boland’s performance is deemed unsatisfactory. Another scenario for Starc’s inclusion is if the team management opts to rest Hazlewood, who has recently returned from injury.
Starc picked nine wickets in two matches at Lord’s during 2019 CWC
Starc, who was included in Australia’s squad for the WTC final, struggled to find his rhythm and ended up conceding runs at a high rate while taking four wickets. He admitted that despite feeling confident before the match, he lost his rhythm during the game.
“I came into that game feeling pretty good, but my rhythm wasn’t quite there. It’s been a good couple of weeks of work to get back into that rhythm. We were all better for the run after that Test final at The Oval and I certainly feel less clunky than I did throughout the game,”
Starc further added.
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