Starc finds his peace as many milestones loom

Mitchell Starc happily admits that he has never been one to keep an eye on personal milestones, having achieved them in an international career spanning almost 15 years.

The 34-year-old reiterates that winning tournaments and important series like the Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign concluded not so long ago with his closest friends is the currency that funds his competitive spirit.

But the reality remains that Starc is on the verge of joining an elite fraternity based on a number of long-established Test cricket benchmarks, and is even closer to claiming places in the game's history that he never had foreseen given his fast bowling skills.

Should he take two wickets in the upcoming series in Galle starting on Wednesday, he will overtake Pakistan's Wasim Akram as the most successful Test fast bowler visiting the grass of Sri Lanka.

What is even more remarkable about that achievement is that Wasim was rightly regarded as a master in Asian conditions, where his ability to swing the ball new and old lent him a power few fellow pacers found on notoriously spin-friendly pitches.

The former Pakistan skipper captured 30 wickets at an average of 20.43 and a strike rate of a breakthrough every nine overs (53.67 deliveries) during the eight Tests he played in Sri Lanka between 1986 and 2000.

By comparison, fellow left-armer Starc currently has 29 wickets from just five Tests on the island so far at a superior average (17.48) and an extremely lethal strike of a scalp every five overs (29.66 balls).

Of all the Test bowlers with 25 wickets or more on Sri Lanka grounds, no bowler, not even a local legend, and the most successful spinner of all time, Muttiah Muralidaran, can match Starc's strike rate.

And only New Zealander Sir Richard Hadlee recorded a more economical average, with his 27 victims here costing 12.30 runs each.

“It's very humbling when you see some of those names,” Starc told cricket.com.au when informed of the impending milestone. “As a left-handed player, when I started bowling well and watched Wasim, he was perhaps the greatest left-hander of all time.

“So to spend some time with him and listen to him talk about bowling and his wrist (position) and swinging the ball was really cool.

“If I manage to get one or two (wickets), or equal him or something like that, it would be pretty cool too.”

It is not just in Sri Lanka that Starc's raw pace, laser-like accuracy in executing his trademark yorkers and ability to find a reverse swing when conditions permit have allowed him to remain a wicket-taking threat when circumstances do not favor his profession.

Since playing his first Test in the Asian subcontinent, against India in Chennai during the now infamous 'homework-gate' tour of early 2013, no other visiting pace bowler operating in Asia has taken more than his 52 wickets captured at 30:42 from 17 outings.

The next most successful Test quick in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the UAE is ex-England evergreen James Anderson whose 50 wickets came from 18 appearances at an average of 23.56.

Starc laughs at his exalted status among fast bowling contemporaries, noting “maybe I've been around too long because the way I'm being talked about here, I don't think I would have put myself that high on the list”.

But his effectiveness on surfaces that usually offer little other than heartburn and back pain for really fast bowlers suggests there is considerably more to his success than just longevity.

“I think for a long time the point of difference for me was a little bit more airspeed, not (compared to) other people, but because of my role in the Australian bowling group,” he explained as he pushed further.

“I had that extra airspeed, and sometimes the airspeed can take away from the inertia of a wicket, or the fact that the wicket isn't doing anything.

“In 2016 (Sri Lanka tour) there was a lot of reverse swing because the squares were very dry and the wickets were very dry and abrasive.

“Then they would be watering the (wicket) square here every day in 2022, so there was no reverse swing.

“So there are very, very different conditions in the same country on different tours.

“It's obviously very different to bowling in Australia too. You won't have to deal with bounce, you won't be able to rough guys up as much as you can with fast, bouncy wickets because that just doesn't happen here, so you'll probably see a lot of different pitches .

“You see different types of bowling, a lot of it from stump to stump and almost a war of attrition, trying to wait for a batsman to make a mistake.”

While Starc was blissfully unaware of his impending milestones on the often unforgiving pitches of the subcontinent, there are a few other benchmarks on the horizon that are firmly on his radar.

One is the prospect of becoming just the 18th men's Test player and the fourth Australian behind Nathan Lyon (539), Glenn McGrath (563) and Shane Warne (708) to reach 400 wickets.

Starc currently has 376 of his 94 matches in the Baggy Green Cap, and with that career average of four per match he should theoretically break the benchmark in the third and final Test of Australia's upcoming tour to the Caribbean in July.

Coincidentally, if he remains fit, that final match of the proposed three-Test campaign, which follows the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord's, will also mark his 100th Test for Australia.

While fifteen others have reached the century for their country, only one other fast bowler, the indefatigable McGrath (124), has pushed his body through the grueling workload required to score a ton.

Starc has earned a rightly respected reputation for his ability to play through pain, as was evident at the end of the recent home Test summer when he suffered a rib/back complaint suffered during the fourth Test at the MCG to lead the way go into the final at Sydney.

He wasn't the only fast bowler to limp to the finish line during that five-match clash, with Australia captain Pat Cummins (ankle), India's spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (back) and his new ball partner Mohammed Siraj all limping after taking a combined ball shot. total of almost 630 overs between the four of them.

Starc claims that while his understanding of what his body can tolerate is based on a decade of Test competition, he is also aware of the foot stress fracture that forced him to leave the inaugural day-night Test in Adelaide in 2015 after playing just nine bowled once. about.

“I've been around long enough to know what I can and can't endure, and I've had to leave the guys a man before, and I wouldn't do that again,” Starc said.

“So if I know I can't get through something, I won't try.

“But Sydney (earlier this month) was one I knew I liked.”

Starc sees no great symbolism in reaching 100 Tests or 400 wickets, although scaling both peaks in the same game would certainly boost the achievement.

“I didn't think in my first few Test matches that I would get anywhere near 10 Tests, let alone near 100,” he said with a wry smile.

But there's another record he has both the time and insight to avoid.

Should he score another 56 runs, he will overtake recently retired New Zealand seamer Tim Southee to become outright third on the list of players with the most Test runs without posting a century.

Only Sri Lankan keeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella (2,757) and Warne (3,154) scored more runs without ever reaching triple figures, with both Starc (2,190) and the famous Australian legspinner having the highest Test scores of 99.

The fact that Starc's near miss occurred in his 13th Test innings, during his first tour to India 12 years ago, meant it was seen as inevitable that he would sooner or later become a Test century-maker.

But in his 124 visits to the crease since then, the left-hander's best performance was the 84 he scored against Pakistan at the MCG in 2016, while eight others totaled above 50.

Starc claims he is no longer haunted by the memory of Indian pacer Ishant Sharma's run at Mohali within the single run that would have likely earned him recognition as one of only eight men's players and the only Australian to combine a Test century with 400 wickets.

Instead, he will be hoping his wife (and incumbent Australian women's team captain) Alyssa Healy, who also has a top Test score of 99, can go one better in the upcoming day-night Ashes match at the MCG.

“I think I've made peace with my 99,” Starc said. 'I liked to think I could get somewhere close to it again, but I probably missed the boat there.

“Now Pat (Cummins) and I are arguing about who's going to bat at number nine and trying to hide down there.

“I think Patty is probably a lot closer to a Test century than I am these days, the way he's going about it.

“I've probably had a few chances to get one or two and let them go, but it's better than zero.

“I would enjoy it a lot more if Alyssa gets 100 in the pink ball test, then she can get rid of 99 with me.”

Qantas tour of Sri Lanka

Australia Test Squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc , Beau Webster

First test: January 29 – February 2, Galle (3:30 PM AEDT)

Second test: February 6-10, Galle (3:30pm AEDT)

First ODI: February 12, Colombo (3:30 PM AEDT)

Second ODI: February 14, Colombo (3:30 PM AEDT)