Starc advice fuelling Meredith's Baggy Green dreams

Still pinching himself about his mega IPL deal and international debut, pace ace Riley Meredith is setting his sights on becoming an all-format player for Australia.

And the Tasmanian has tapped the brain of one of Australia's best three-form fast bowlers, Mitch Starc, on just how to do it.

After impressing with the Hobart Hurricanes over several seasons of the KFC BBL, Meredith was rewarded with a maiden international cap in New Zealand earlier this month, becoming the 97th men's T20 player for Australia.

In three games against the Black Caps the right-armer claimed four wickets, including Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson twice, in what was an impressive debut outing at the highest level.

All that came after he was picked up by Punjab Kings for A$1.5 million in the 2021 IPL auction, a life-changing event that he says still hasn't sunk in yet.

Now back with Tasmania before he jets off to India on April 1, the 24-year-old says he wants to add a Baggy Green and ODI cap to his collection.

"Somewhere down the line I'd absolutely love to earn the Baggy Green and represent Australia in all three formats would be my ultimate goal," Meredith told The Unplayable Podcast.

"You see these guys who are doing it at the moment, Mitch Starc and Pat Cummins, those sort of guys and you want to be them, really, you look up to them and you try to copy how they bowl.

"That's probably the goal of any cricketer but how I'm going to get there is probably the biggest thing."

Starc and Cummins were absent on the NZ T20 tour as Australia's Test players remained at home following the postponement of the South Africa Test series.

But Meredith had a chance to talk fast bowling with Starc in England last year on the white-ball campaign, where the main topic involved what separates them from other pacemen around the country: speed.

Starc's mantra, once written on his wrist strapping, is to bowl as fast as possible and that's the advice the seasoned left-armer has passed on to the young Tiger.

"I've talked to Starcy about that (bowling flat out) a lot while we were in England as well," Meredith said.

"There's not many people who can bowl around 150kph so it's a weapon and you've got to use it.

"If you're bowling mid-130s you're not doing your service to the team.

"As he says, bowl as fast as you can and try and make something happen.

"He's an unbelievable cricketer, he's done it in all three formats and he's got a great brain.

"He's probably Australia's best-ever one-day bowler so to be able to bounce anything off him is great and you know he's more than willing to share his knowledge and give you tips he thinks you can be doing."

While Meredith can send down rockets in the white-ball formats, his next challenge is to be able to consistently bowl fast in four-day cricket, as Starc has.

In 18 first-class matches, Meredith has taken 53 wickets at 35.58 with his last game coming against Starc's NSW in Adelaide where he failed to take a wicket. But his sole five-wicket haul did come against NSW at Drummoyne Oval in 2019. 

Meredith is in line to face the Blues again, this time on home soil, before his IPL stint and has been working with head coach Adam Griffith on how he can still bowl express pace without burning out in first-class cricket.

"That's something I'm almost figuring out now," he said.

"I've been speaking to 'Griffo' a little bit about it.

"T20 cricket for me, I've got about a 40 metre run up and I'm basically sprinting in 40 metres straight and trying to bowl as hard as I can for four overs but it's probably not going to work in four-day cricket trying to do that.

"Still be a fast bowler but just find that little gear that's a bit more sustainable."