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Lee Majors, an American actor, gained notoriety as The
Six Million Dollar Man. At the IPL auction last week, Mitchell Starc became
Australia’s AUD $4 million man.
Starc has been an iron man with the ball, much like
the fictional bionic man. He has powered through an incredible year that has
featured an ODI World Cup, an away Ashes series where he was named Australia’s
Player of the Series, a World Test Championship final, and a Test tour to
India.Throughout, he has maintained a high pace and striking skill with the
ball, even with the occasional slump in form and a persistent groyne problem
that is more than just a niggle, despite his desire to downplay it in public.
“Red ball is still top of the tree for me,”
Starc said on Sunday at the MCG. “I think my body will let me know about
Test cricket before probably I want to [stop]. It’s an opportunity next year,
in terms of the [Australian] winter, it’s a lot quieter. There’s no Test match
between the one in New Zealand in March and the summer next year. Obviously
there’s a T20 World Cup. It’s a nice lead into that with the IPL and the
quality of cricket that that tournament presents.”
Even with Starc’s auction price being so high, it’s
hard to ignore the amount of money he might have left on the table given that
he hasn’t participated in the IPL since 2015 and hasn’t been in the auction for
the past five years. However, Starc hasn’t given it much thought. Any possible
income during that time has been superseded by his desire to take every April
and May off in order to spend time with his wife, Australia women’s captain
Alyssa Healy.
This year has shown his dedication to the game of
international cricket as well as his drive to keep getting better as a bowler.
His post-Ashes series groyne problems were far more
significant than he has admitted. He did, however, miss just one World Cup
match and one white-ball tour of South Africa, and even in those instances, he
was rested at the medical staff’s and selectors’ request rather than on his own
volition.
After the tournament, there were serious doubts about
his recovery to the extent that Australia’s medical staff and selectors
controlled Lance Morris, the star of Western Australia, carefully to make sure
he was ready for the first Test match against Pakistan if needed.
However, Starc arrived in Perth in excellent form and
bowled quickly the entire game. It has been understated how tough of a schedule
this year—which comprised eight Test matches across three countries and
fourteen One-Day Internationals—he is.
Even with 83 Tests and 338 wickets under his belt,
Starc is still looking to enhance his technical abilities, despite his
remarkable durability. In Perth, he took two wickets in the first innings with
two excellent deliveries. On the second day, he caught Shan Masood off guard
with a late-swinging ball. Then, using a 76-over ball and a blistering 140 kph
conventional inswinger, he uprooted Sarfaraz Ahmed’s off stump.
Starc became the AUD $4 million man two days later.
However, he is still an invaluable member of Australia’s Test team, and a
totally dedicated one at that.