Player’s hardcore theatrics a Starc contrast to reality
Mitchell Starc tries hard to be the man he believes he needs to be as the leader of Australia’s bowling attack. He snarls, he spits and he makes barbed comments. It is a commitment he takes seriously and he should be admired for that.
But like most people acting out of character, excluding real thespians, his efforts often result in him making a slightly embarrassing fool of himself, especially off the field when there’s no adrenalin to back up his threats and gestures.
At least he’s a lot better than Nathan Lyon. Encouraged by his captain to “be more aggressive” before the recent Ashes campaign, Lyon told the media the Aussie attack would “end a few careers” during the series.
It was especially pathetic coming from a genial, balding off-spinner. At least Starc is a towering two metres tall and has the face of a gangster.
HE IS NEVER HAPPIER THAN WHEN PLAYING WITH HIS DOGS AND NOT HAVING TO THINK OR WORRY ABOUT WHAT THE LEADER OF THE BOWLING ATTACK SHOULD BE DOING OR SAYING
It started a couple of years into the left-armer’s career when Shane Warne called him “soft” and said he needed to “toughen up” after showing concern for a batsman he had just felled with a bouncer. Warne said “nice guys don’t win Test matches” and, sadly, Starc believed him.
His friends and family still squirm and look away when he does his “angry thing”, the most recent example of which came when he bowled an over of bouncers at Wiaan Mulder on the last day of the warm-up fixture against SA A and then strongly suggested that the batsman’s call-up to the Test squad was premature.
Afterwards Mulder said he was thrilled and that his upclose and personal experience of the tourists had shown “what a class act they are”. Actually, those were the classy words.
In real life Starc is married to Australia’s women’s wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy, the niece of long-time men’s keeper and now Channel 9 commentator Ian.
Now, Alyssa is a real enforcer. There’s nothing “put on” about her words or actions. When they are together it is she who leads, with Mitch often a couple of steps behind.
He is never happier than when playing with his dogs and not having to think or worry about what the leader of the bowling attack should be doing or saying.
Although he made his debut in 2011, he has not played a Test in this country and is keen to make an impression.
Inevitably that impression will include plenty of snarling and swearing, which isn’t really him but, you know, it’s the Aussie way.
Two incidents in the past couple of years are far more indicative of the real Starc.
First, he tripped over a stump during a fielding drill and ripped open his shin with a gash to the bone that required 25 stitches to close.
Starc was bowling again well before it had healed and simply had the wound cleaned and redressed once or even twice a day. That’s genuine “hard”. The second was when Cricket Australia secretly offered him, captain Steve Smith and David Warner twoyear national contracts in an effort to divide and conquer during the players’ stand-off with the administrators.
Starc was the first to make the offer public – and tell his employers to “shove it”, publicly. That’s hard.
CRICKET SA DEAL
And he will be the first to offer his support to SA’s players in their ongoing battle against an obtuse and obstinate Cricket SA administration, which is refusing to engage, never mind negotiate, the renewal of the memorandum of understanding that features, most prominently, a revenue-share agreement.
The structure for franchise contracts was supposed to have been agreed by this Thursday.
National contracts need to be finalised in order for franchise teams to build their squads for 2019.
Each franchise has a salary cap of about R7m, which they won’t need to use for their best players if they are paid by the national administrators.
But the whole process has come to a grinding standstill. It is not just the Proteas who are angry and frustrated, it is all the franchise players.
Nobody knows where they stand or can plan their futures.
And the overwhelming feeling is that Cricket SA want to stall long enough for the current deal to expire and then start again – on their terms.
Unfortunately, if that happens, this exciting Test series that everyone is so keenly anticipating is likely to fall victim, in one way or another, to industrial action by the players.