If Mitchell Starc had a Pinterest mood board, his would, most certainly, include an aesthetic shot of a pink ball, a picture of a baggy green, rattled stumps, and an Aussie white uniform with five days’ worth of dirt.
Before the final Test at Sabina Park started, Starc was already part of the headlines, nearing his 400 wickets milestone, and ready to play his 100th Test in the subtext. He says he doesn’t like this kind of attention. But if he was looking to avoid that, bowling a searing spell, taking three wickets in his opening over, grabbing the quickest five-for, and giving only 9 runs in the pursuit, wasn’t the best way to do so.
“It’s certainly been uncomfortable throughout the week,” he said. “I was happy just to have a win and sing the song. It’s certainly been a special week to play, to wear the baggy green. It’s been one I’ll cherish for a long time.”
West Indies barely made it to the twilight on the third day. Starc ripped open the game from the first over of the last innings, taking three wickets before the hosts even got off the mark. Mikyle Louise was his 400th wicket, with a delivery that trapped the batter plumb in front.
What makes his spell worth mentioning in reverential awe is the fact that teams had relied on help under the light to do most of the work with the ball on the previous two days. Starc, however, reduced West Indies to smithereens before the sun had even begun going down.
His spell landed in the middle of a larger plot about Australia’s plan in day-night games, especially ones with the Dukes ball. The pink Dukes moves more and stays harder than its Kookaburra cousin, and Starc knows best how to flirt with such opportunities.
“[It’s] probably a win against the conditions in the fact that we only bowled ten [nine] overs under lights,” Starc said. “I think everyone today with the ball was pretty spot on. I don’t think anyone thought it was going to happen that quickly. We were talking about almost consolidating the scoreboard until we got closer to that night session.
“It wasn’t a plan to drag it out. [But] if things weren’t happening straight away, we knew that things would happen quicker in the night session. [It was like] this is what we want to do at the start, but if it doesn’t happen straight away, let’s just chill out and stop the scoreboard and cash in at night. Didn’t need to.”
Mitchell Starc has an insane average with the pink ball. He has 81 wickets in day/night Tests in only 14 games, the most by any bowler in the format. The 6-9 he took in Jamaica replaced his 6-48 career-best that he grabbed in Adelaide against India just in December.
With five-fors being ever so frequent in his career, Starc seems to be aging (if that applies to him) like a fine wine.
At Lord’s too in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, when the surface flattened out a lot in the fourth innings, Starc managed to grab three, bowling as if featherbeds were the new snorters.
“I felt like my rhythm has been pretty good for a while now,” he said. “Even coming into the lead up to Lord’s, I felt like everything was clicking into place. It’s been nice to have that carry on throughout the series. Today, again, just felt like everything was in sync and got some late swing. I think perhaps the breeze might have helped in the fact that I wasn’t under lights.”
