How Starc dispelled self-doubt and doubters

The esteem in which Mitchell Starc's teammates hold his skills has often jarred with the vocal chorus of doubters that seem ready to pounce on the left-armer's every misstep.

Despite so often being a lightning rod for criticism or conjecture, most recently when he lost his spot for the final match of Australia's stuttering T20 World Cup campaign, Starc has good reason for those doubters to be the furthest thing from his mind when he takes the new ball in this week's NRMA Insurance Test opener against West Indies in Perth.

Starc bowled the fastest recorded delivery of his career in the remote Western Australian capital in scorching heat back in 2015, while he can lay claim to being player of the match in the most recent Test played there three years ago.

Yet, in a Sheffield Shield match only weeks before that nine-wicket performance against New Zealand, where the intense spotlight of international cricket had been dimmed considerably, it was Starc's own doubts that were at risk of consuming him.

His ability to overcome them and re-emerge as an even more formidable bowler bodes well for an upcoming program of matches his captain Pat Cummins has described as "career-defining".

Back in 2019, in a competition that Starc has been the most feared bowler in during his rare appearances, the paceman was fighting himself as Marnus Labuschagne took him around the Gabba, sending down 39 overs that cost 129 runs for a solitary wicket.

They remain his worst ever first-class match figures.

His struggles were rooted in the bowling strategy Australia had taken into the 2019 Ashes tour, which prioritised economy over aggression and accuracy over wonder balls. Their ability to 'bowl dry' – that is, containing England's scoring rate rather than trying to blast them out – proved crucial in Australia retaining the urn abroad for the first time in nearly two decades. 

Yet it left Starc questioning the naturally attacking approach that has netted him 287 Test wickets and put his strike-rate of 49.9 among the lowest of Test cricket's great bowlers.

"I came back from England thinking I needed to change this mindset of how I fit in and then I got stuck in that mindset," Starc told cricket.com.au recently.

"I felt like everything went backwards in those few Shield games. I felt like I was bowling slow, I couldn't get my rhythm.

"I think that came from a mindset of having to peg it back and be this one-spot bowler, which Josh (Hazlewood) and Pat (Cummins) do extremely well and that's just not me.

"From that series I got really stuck in a mindset of 'I have to not go for runs'.

"You can obviously complement your attributes to be better in those conditions or to not go for runs. But the way I looked at it was what I shouldn't be taking away what I bring to the table to fit into the attack."

Starc admits his preoccupation with economy had scrambled his thinking.

The antidote was an ensuing series of net sessions in Sydney where, with the assistance of New South Wales bowling coach Andre Adams, he made a notable technical change to his bowling action that saw him pin his bowling hand closer to his back hip in his delivery stride.

Counter-intuitively, to rediscover his attacking best he had to ditch the free-flowing approach and high cocking of his left wrist in his load-up that had long been a feature of his languid bowling style, but which Starc felt had become "long and slow".

The more "mechanical" action Starc adopted saw an immediate shift – he snared 10 wickets in the following Shield match. His form lasted, but the change to his style did not.

"I've almost gone back to the old action and being able to transfer the sequencing of the back foot and the arm speed and the rest of it," he explained.

"It sort of all come back and it's probably helped me get my wrist back into a better position being in that natural, free flowing run up and delivery, which I had had.

"Just being able to transfer that into the timing and the arm speed now to be in the best spot for the new ball and for the old ball as well."

Starc's confidence is a strong sign for an Australian side Cummins hopes will have little player turnover over forthcoming months during which tours of India and England loom as opportunities to record legacy-setting victories.

Teammates believe Starc's home Ashes campaign against England last year, in which he finished behind only Cummins as the series' leading wicket taker with 19 wickets at 25, saw him take another leap in terms of his effectiveness as a Test bowler.

Most important for him in accepting that his modus operandi was worth sticking to was the realisation that the other members of the 'big three', Cummins and Hazlewood, are just different bowlers to him.

Coach Andrew McDonald sees the 32-year-old as a crucial point of difference in an experienced bowling group who will underpin the Test team over the coming months. 

"I love the left arm - it gives you the variety to your angle. He's different - he's a bit more slidey, his reverse swing is devastating," McDonald said during Australia's tour of Sri Lanka this year.

"He's probably on the fuller side at times, and when you're on the fuller side, it creates more scoring opportunities. So embracing the fact that, on days, the economy will be higher than the others.

"They all can't be the same, but how they operate and function as a collective is the most important thing."

For Starc, winning over those who have been on his case makes little difference to him given his repeated assertions that he pays little attention to outside criticism.

And when his career is over, none of the doubters will be able to quibble with a record that will be enhanced further over the coming weeks when he becomes just the fifth Australian fast bowler to go past the 300 Test wicket mark.

"It is the reason why not many have done it, you have to have longevity, you have to do it around the world in different conditions," said Cummins.

"Mitchy, last summer was almost a breakout summer the way he bowled. He went to another level. He will be tricky over here with pace, bounce and we know how good he is with the pink ball.

"Big summer ahead for him."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v West Indies

Nov 30 – Dec 4: First Test, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT

Dec 8-12: Second Test, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Devon Thomas

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