Selectors likely to face Starc choice

MITCHELL Starc was happy enough to miss the Boxing Day Test, but conversations between him, selectors and medicos about the final Ashes Test could prove to be more complicated.

Starc suffered a bruised heel during Australia’s crushing win at the WACA ground, which gave the host an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-Test series.

The left-armer was determined to prove his fitness for the ensuing MCG game, notably refusing to drink alcohol the night teammates celebrated reclaiming the urn.

Starc ditched the crutches at the weekend but was unable to train. A 30-second discussion with the team’s physio and doctor on Christmas Eve confirmed he wouldn’t play the fourth Test.

Australia’s spearhead insists he could have bowled under duress at the MCG but it would have been selfish to do so. Starc hopes he will be fit enough to play his home Test, which starts on January 4.

“I am not having much luck with my front foot,” Starc said in a commentary stint on the Nine Network.

“Hopefully it will be good enough [for the SCG Test]. It was touch and go for this one. It was a bit more caution than anything. We will see how it comes up next week — [bruised heels] aren’t too predictable.

“Hopefully it goes away in the next couple of days and I can get ready for Sydney.”

Australia is likely to adopt a conservative approach to Starc’s injury. He suffered a stress fracture of the same foot during this year’s tour of India.

Starc will be one of the first picked — and most important — members of the touring party for a four-Test series in South Africa.