As England’s aggressive “Bazball” strategy approaches, Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has advised curators to create bowler-friendly pitches for the Ashes, cautioning against flattening surfaces to maximize five-day revenue.
In their last home summer, Australia overcame India 3-1 on pitches that encouraged both bowlers and batters. Starc expressed his optimism that this would continue in the five-Test series against England.
“I hope the groundsmen stick to their guns and prepare the wickets they want,” Starc told Australian media. “If we are worried about five days of revenue then there’s bigger problems at hand.”
In the Sheffield Shield encounter against Victoria on Monday, left-armer Starc claimed four wickets for New South Wales on a soggy Sydney Cricket Ground track. Despite being pleased with his bowling performance in his first first-class game since July, Starc claimed that the wicket would have given the England batsmen the upper hand.
“Yeah no doubt. Especially if they’re pretty docile wickets like this,” he said. “We know the way they’re trying to play their cricket. We’ll worry about that next week.”
After a protracted absence from red-ball cricket, Starc, who recently gave up T20I cricket to prolong his Test career, said his bowling rhythm is back and he is preparing well for the Ashes series opener in Perth, which begins on November 21.
“I think the break was a good thing, but I just tend to be someone who continuous bowling keeps in rhythm,” said the 35-year-old.
“I’ve just been speaking to (head coach) Ronnie (Andrew McDonald) then, I think I’ve sorted it out and now it’s just getting the engine going again.”
