Mitchell Johnson is no longer the fastest bowler of the Australian Cricket Team. It’s Mitchell Starc who has taken over from him.
Starc has come a long way over the last one year. He was quick before as well, but, he was pretty much a directionless bowler and that’s why, he would find himself in and out of the team all the time.
Six or seven months before the World Cup, he was not a certainty to be picked in the Australian squad.
But, not only did he get back into the frame with his hard work, he ended up winning the World Cup for Australia on his own, grabbing 23 wickets.
And, out of those 23, most were the top order wickets. In the final match against New Zealand, it was Starc who started it for Australia by cleaning up Brendan McCullum in the very first over with a swinging yorker.
McCullum could have tilted the game in favour of his team there with 10 overs of ferocious hitting, but, with him getting out; New Zealand fell behind and never recovered.
Starc’s speciality is that apart from being quick, he swings the ball as well and he swings it right through the innings.
It’s not that he needs shine on the ball to be able to move it in the air. He can do that with the old ball too.
His action is so steady and his run up is so smooth that he automatically generates a fair bit of extra pace and his height helps him get some bounce as well.
In the World Cup, he continuously bowled 150 kilometres per hour and mixed the bouncers with the full length deliveries very effectively.
Starc has so far taken 81 wickets for Australia in just 40 One Day Internationals.