Starc contrast ... he’s ready for dream Test
RUSSELL GOULD
But having been denied a maiden Boxing Day outing in 2012 when controversially rested by then Aussie coach Mickey Arthur, now in charge of Pakistan, Starc, who has been unavailable for the past three post-Christmas clashes, said he was ready and raring to go for Monday.
“Feeling good. We are all a little bit tired the last couple of days but we have had some time off and we’ll get out on the paddock (today), bowl a few overs and be ready for Boxing Day,” Starc said at the MCG.
“The only difference (in Brisbane) was that the last session on day four went for three hours. Otherwise we all expect at times we are going to have to bowl a lot of overs. It has happened twice to us in a month and a bit.
“But the last ball I bowled in Brisbane ... was 149 clicks so there are no issues on my end. And the Boxing Day Test gets everyone ready to go.
“There’s no reason anyone will be missing out through injury or rest.”
Starc had limited lead-in work this summer after a training accident that left him with a serious gash to his knee required 30 stitches and left him in a cast for weeks.
But he has completed four Tests worth of work so far against South Africa and now Pakistan and said his body was coping well.
The fact his last ball in Brisbane was as fast as his first showed his physical progression and going in to his 33rd Test said he was comfortable with all the work he was having to do.
“I said before Perth (first Test of the summer) I was behind where I wanted to be. I’ve been able to keep that up through that South Africa series, the one-dayers ... to get the extra sessions I need,” Starc said.
“It’s all in a good space. I could ideally prepare better than being in a cast but the way it’s going I’m pretty happy how I’m handling my body.”
And he said he was delighted to finally get to live out his Boxing Day dream.
“Personally, as a kid growing up watching the Boxing Day Test it’s always been a dream of mine to play in front of a full house at the MCG,” he said.
“If I get the chance this week, we’ll tick that off. It’d be a fantastic experience to walk out, sing that anthem and play.”