Harris backs Starc to ‘rip through the English again’
spirit of Mitchell Johnson could return to haunt England’s batsmen during the Ashes in the form of another leftarm paceman, Mitchell Starc, according to former Australia fast bowler Ryan Harris.
A rampaging Johnson took 37 wickets at an astonishing average of 13.97 to fire Australia to a 5-0 whitewash in the 2013-14 series Down Under, leaving mental scars on a number of the tourists’ batters.
Australia spearhead Starc had a similar volatile mix of pace, swing and bounce to be a Johnson-style wrecking ball in the series that started in Brisbane next week, said Harris.
The 27-year-old has also been in ominous form, capturing 17 wickets for New South Wales in his two Sheffield Shield warmup matches.
“He’s definitely got it in him. I’ve just spent some time with him. He’s bowling fast,” said Harris in an interview from Brisbane.
“He probably had a little bit of an issue over the last few months with not swinging the ball as much as he’d like. But giving him that red ball, he’s probably as consistent as I’ve seen him for a while as well.
“He’s got the pace of Johnson, he moves it both ways, exactly like Johnson does, and doesn’t even know he’s doing it.
“He’s also got that brutal yorker that he can pull out when he wants. So, I’d love to see that happen again, someone rip through the English again and put a bit of fear in the back of their minds.”
Along with Peter Siddle, Harris was on hand to witness Johnson at his destructive best as a member of the pace trio in Michael Clarke’s Australia that captured all 20 English wickets in each of the five Tests.
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