LEFT FIELD THINKING

Proteas order a fleet of Starc replicas to combat Aussie gun

SOUTH Africa’s cricketers know exactly who their biggest threat is, asking for a bevy of left-arm quick net bowlers to help counter Australian trump card Mitchell Starc, right.

Many South Africans, including middle-order batsman Dean Elgar, are yet to face Australia’s fastbowling spearhead Starc, who has just played one Test against the Proteas — back in 2012.

“It’s a general request from our management; there is not a lot of left-arm seamers,” Elgar said.

“You have still got to tick those boxes in regards to preparation so we definitely have got a few (left-arm) net bowlers,” Elgar said.

“And we have got a few of our management who also throw left-arm, which is quite an asset, so we will definitely prepare in the right means.”

Starc yesterday said he had overcome a gash to his leg and would play for NSW in their Sheffield Shield opener from Tuesday against Queensland.

It will be Starc’s only tuneup before the team for the first Test against South Africa in Perth, starting on November 3, is named tomorrow week.

The left-arm quick hasn’t bowled since the end of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in September, after suffering a deep gash to his leg last month while sliding into a metal plate at the base of stumps in a fielding drill.

“A metal plate which had nowhere to go bar back through my leg and I was stuck in a hospital bed for five days,” said Starc, who required about 30 stitches and also underwent surgery.

Elgar said the tourists were well aware of the threat posed by Starc.

“His stats speak for themselves,” he said.

“He seems a serious competitor, a guy who I respect a lot in the game.

“I see it as a very exciting opportunity to play against him.”

Elgar also dismissed South Africa’s 5-0 limited-overs series whitewash of Australia earlier this month as irrelevant to the upcoming Tests.

“What has happened in South Africa in a different format is the past,” he said.

The South Africans open their tour this weekend with a day-night pink-ball match against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide.