Last Updated on 2 months by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Tests far above any other format – Mitchell Starc | Will Starc play all three formats going forward?
Mitchell Starc has insisted that Test cricket will continue to be the topmost priority for him as Australia embarks into a run important series’ in red-ball cricket against the likes of West Indies, South Africa, India and England in the coming year.
Starc, who was dropped from the playing XI in the T20 World Cup this year, has said that he will want to play Tests for as long as he can. He explained that playing all games across three formats might not be a plausible idea going ahead.
“Tests always first…far above white-ball [cricket]. I’ll decide on the rest as I go, where my body is at and how I feel about it. I would love to, selection and form pending, continue playing Test cricket as long as I can,” the 32-year-old pacer was quoted in a report by ESPNcricinfo.
He added, “It’s certainly impossible at the moment to play every game as a three-format player. We’ve seen that over the last few years, sometimes there are two Australian teams playing at the same time in different continents in different formats.”
Starc and Cummins focused on big Tests in 2023
Starc had recently withdrawn from the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023. He, along with fellow teammate Pat Cummins, are believed to have taken this decision eyeing the Ashes that soon follow the IPL and then the One Day International (ODI) World Cup that will take place in India later on in 2023.
“They see a break and put a series on. I think having those periods of time to rest may help me keep bowling at decent speeds for a period of time. I don’t think playing three formats is something I can [continue] for a long period of time moving forward now,” Starc further explained.
Starc was pretty vocal about the tight scheduling of international games that are leading to fewer crowds in the Australian stadiums.
The first two ODIs of Australia’s on-going series vs England attracted an attendance of only 15,420 and 16,993 people in Adelaide and Sydney respectively. The pacer explained that one cannot expect common people to splurge 400-500 bucks daily for three matches a week. He acknowledged that he doesn’t have any control over the scheduling of matches but called upon everyone to face the reality of the situation.
“It’s not for me to sit here and decide on a schedule but it is what it is. We’ve come off a T20 World Cup into a three-match one-day series into five Tests, the WBBL is heading into finals at the minute, then you’ve got BBL, we go to India for Tests and white-ball [cricket], the girls have got a T20 World Cup into IPL,” Starc opened up.
“How do you ask people to go spend 400-500 bucks at a day of cricket three days a week? It’s a busy schedule for players and staff and fans,” he quipped whilst raising some genuine concerns.
Australia is already leading England 2-0 in the current series and they will play the final match on Tuesday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).