Starc Quality
GH stands back and takes it in
Mitchell Starc is having a moment. He has filled the vacuum left by his absent cronies Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon with compressed achievement. He has achieved the same ubiquity in these Ashes as Timothy Chalamet in popular culture. Sooner or later someone will call him an icon.
In Perth, Starc bowled the house down; at the Gabba, he has combined his wickets with runs. Entwined them, actually. Today he scored 77, and more importantly batted 141 balls and 154 minutes - each minute pushing England’s second innings deeper into the day, into that treacherous sub-tropical twilight. Then, in the last half hour, he struck twice at top speed, disposing of Joe Root and Jamie Smith to send the visitors spiralling.
Not perhaps for twelve years has a single cricketer so pervaded Tests between England and Australia, when it was another mephistophelean left-arm Mitch - Johnson of that ilk.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Cricket Et Al to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.