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Faster, smarter, better: Starc warning to Pakistan

Coach Justin Langer and left-armer reflect on the lessons learned from the Ashes ahead of first Test of the home summer

Australia paceman Mitchell Starc looms as a "nightmare" for opponents through this Test summer, and his fear factor may have little to do with his lethal yorker.

That's according to head coach Justin Langer, who believes the pace spearhead can thrive even when conditions are not conducive to reverse swing, a factor Starc has expertly utilised throughout his career with both red ball and white.

But Langer has savoured the 29-year-old's progress in 2019 following advice from he and Ricky Ponting, and a sustained period of work with Cricket Australia's national performance program head coach Troy Cooley during the Ashes, in which Starc played just one Test.

The focal point of the conversations and training sessions has been his ability to hit what Langer calls a "first-class length"; allied with the other weapons in his bowling arsenal, the consensus from Australia's brains trust was that improvement in that area would make Starc an even more dangerous prospect than the one who has collected his 215 Test wickets at an outstanding strike-rate of 50.0.

"He can bowl yorkers at will, he can bowl a good bouncer - it's about getting more consistent at hitting that first-class length," Langer said at the Gabba on Tuesday.

"He's never going to be a (Vernon) Philander, or a Josh Hazlewood who will bowl the same ball every ball ... but the more consistent he can hit that back-of-a-length delivery ... he's a nightmare to face and he's getting better and better at it.


Best Test bowling strike-rates

(min 200 wickets)

Dale Steyn (SA) – 42.3

Waqar Younis (Pak) – 43.4

Malcolm Marshall (WI) – 46.7

Allan Donald (SA) – 47.0

Fred Trueman (Eng) – 49.4

Vernon Philander (SA) – 49.9

Mitchell Starc (Aus) – 50.0


"I remember one of the conversations, at Hampshire with the white ball - 'Punter' (Ponting) was there, I was there - we were saying, 'Mitch, if you hit that length more often you're actually a scary commodity because you come from so high, you are so fast. If you bowl a bit full or a bit short against good players, you keep letting (them) off the hook. But hitting that length more regularly, you are a nightmare'.

"What has most impressed me ... is how hard he has worked.

Langer confirms Gabba XI, wants more top-order runs

"He worked really hard with Troy Cooley in the Ashes when he wasn't playing ... I just love his development ... his maturity through that period when he wasn't playing.

"He took 10 wickets in the last Test against Sri Lanka (in February) ... and I can't wait to see him bowl in this Test."

Starc told cricket.com.au earlier this week that he’s been working on blending the lessons learned in the UK around consistency and economy rates, with his flat-out speed and dangerous inswing to the right-hander. The result in his past two Marsh Sheffield Shield matches has been 16 wickets at an average of 9.88 and an economy rate of 2.05.

"I guess the big learning from the UK was that it’s not all about air speed," Starc said.

"At times you can call upon it, but a lot of success there is built on economy rate and a holding pattern and being really, really consistent and almost bowling 'boring'.

"It's nice to come back to Australia where hopefully the wickets are fast and a bit bouncier, and go back to that mindset of controlled aggression.


"It's not out-and-out aggression, or trying to bowl as fast as I can and spraying the ball around.

"But a strength of mine is running in and bowling fast, so what I've learned over the last nine months is about having a bit of that control there as well."

Domain Test Series v Pakistan

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Joe Burns, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah.

First Test: November 21-25, Gabba (Seven, Fox & Kayo)

Second Test: November 29 – December 3, Adelaide (d/n) (Seven, Fox & Kayo)