SELECTORS URGED NOT TO TAKE ANY RISKS WITH INJURED STARC
AUSTRALIAN selectors have been urged to put longterm goals ahead of Mitchell Starc’s own Boxing Day ambitions and leave him out of the MCG Test unless he is 100 per cent fit.
A bruised heel has the big quick in doubt for what would be only his second Boxing Day Test despite scans yesterday clearing Starc of any major damage.
Australia is pushing for a 5-0 whitewash and Starc, the leading wicket taker in the Ashes with 19 scalps, is desperate to take the field.
Test great Shane Warne last night said with the urn already secured, Starc should have a rest unless he was able to bowl at full capacity, with a big summer of short-form cricket still to be played and a tour of South Africa in March to come.
“I always want to see the best possible Australian team take the field. And I don’t like the idea of players being rested,” Warne said.
“But if Mitch Starc is not 100 per cent right then I wouldn’t consider him for Boxing Day, even though I’m
sure he is doing everything he can to play.”
Starc spent Tuesday night’s Ashes celebrations in the WACA change rooms with his foot in a bucket of ice, didn’t have a drink, and then left Perth on crutches in a bid to take all pressure off his bruised heel. He also told Australian skipper Steve Smith he would “definitely” play given he had played just one Boxing Day Test since his national debut in 2011 because of form and fitness.
Starc is expected to join the Aussie squad in Melbourne today along with Jackson Bird, who Warne endorsed as his replacement. But history suggests selectors should be cautious with Starc’s injury.
Fellow speedster Pat Cummins played out his debut Test in South Africa in 2011 with a bruised heel, which turned in to bone stress injury. Cummins didn’t get back in to the Test team until April this year in India, when he replaced Starc, who left the tour early with a foot injury.
Starc also had foot issues in the opening Ashes Test in Brisbane.