Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STARC REMINDER
After Johnson destroyed England, another Mitch is ready to bombard the tourists with his sights set on dangermen Root and Cook
MITCHELL STARC reckons England rely on Joe Root and Alastair Cook for their runs as he aims to do the same as his mentor four years ago.
Mitchell Johnson’s Ashes demolition job in 2013/14 left a 5-0-shaped scar on English cricket and Starc would love to inflict the same damage.
Starc tuned up for the contest with England by becoming the first man to claim two hat-tricks in the same Sheffield Shield match.
It prompted Johnson (top, right) to tweet: “Seriously 2 hat tricks in the same game! Now time to rip into the poms.” Cook (right, top) will be the first to taste what the left-arm speed demon has to offer in Brisbane – and there is no doubt it will be quick.
“In a perfect world you get Cook and Root early and get those inexperienced guys in against the hard new ball,” said Starc, who has dismissed Root four times in eight matches (right, bottom).
“They are two huge wickets for them at the top of the order and they are going to be relying a lot on those two to score a lot of runs and bat for a long time.
“Mitch has always been a mentor to me, so yeah by all means I’d love to do the same. I actually spoke to him just the other day. We’re still in contact all the time.
“He is someone we can always chat to about little things, about how he went about that series and the things he picked up along the way that might be useful for the England guys who are back for this series. Our pace is a big asset.
“A definite advantage for us is having guys who bowl genuinely quick as well as the likes of Jackson Bird, who along with Josh Hazlewood is pretty accurate and can do damage with line and length.
“Pat Cummins can bowl great short stuff, he’s really quick and can swing the ball both ways, I’ve got the leftarm angle and Josh is so accurate, I think we all work really well together.”
There is nothing new about targeting an England captain when the Aussies approach the Ashes, but after his time spent playing alongside Root at Yorkshire, this time it is personal.
Starc and Root shared a beer last summer when England triumphed in the Champions Trophy with the Aussie still struggling with a foot injury that he is now completely over.
He added: “I played a few months at Yorkshire with Joe and Gary Ballance, so I know those two and Jonny Bairstow more than the rest of them. Joe has obviously come a long way since I played at Yorkshire in 2012.
“He’s got better and better every year since and he’s now the captain of England and one of the guys they rely on to score a lot of runs.
“We both enjoy the challenge getting the upper hand, but we’ll have a beer when it’s done and dusted.”
Starc certainly has pace and skill and our chat is full of laughter, but is he nasty enough in the heat of battle?
“At times everyone gets a bit of white-line fever, I know I do,” he added.
“But the majority of the time for me it is about presence and trying to bowl fast.”
England have been warned.