Mitchell Starc was in superb form during the recent three-match One-Day International series against India, scooping up eight wickets, including a five-for in the third game in Visakhapatnam.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes his country’s pace-bowling stalwart Mitchell Starc and leg-spinner Adam Zampa will be the stars when the ODI World Cup is hosted in India later this year. Starc, 33, was in superb form during the recent three-match ODI series against India, picking up eight wickets, including a five-for in the third game at Visakhapatnam, as the visitors took the series 2-1. In the first two games, the tall quick made India’s T20 specialist middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav appear like a sitting duck, dismissing him for zero. After being overlooked for the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series, Zampa delivered in ODIs, taking four wickets in the third game at Chennai as Australia triumphed by 21 runs.
“It’s Mitchell Starc’s overall package.” “He’s six-foot-five, bowls in the high 140s, is a left-armer, and he swings the new ball back in, as Suryakumar discovered (during the ODI series),” Ponting said on Tuesday’s ICC Review.
The tall quick had taken the most scalps in the 2019 World Cup, after sharing the honour with Trent Boult of New Zealand in the 2015 version.
“He’s as good as anyone in the world when he’s on song, and has been for a long time.” For a variety of strange reasons, people have always been ready to sit back and criticise Mitchell Starc for some of his performances. But when you look at the facts, especially in white-ball cricket, his numbers are simply outstanding,” Ponting added.
“He demonstrated in that series (against India) just how dangerous he can be with the new ball in any conditions.” Zampa was clearly disappointed after being given the cold shoulder by selectors for the Border-Gavaskar series, but on his return for the ODIs, the 31-year-old demonstrated how dangerous he can be in Indian conditions, taking four wickets and limiting India to 4.88 runs per over.
With 41 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 19.73, the tweaker has risen to the summit of the World Cup Super League wicket-takers list.
“With Mitchell Starc, he’s probably been Australia’s key bowler in all white-ball cricket for a long time,” Ponting said.
“Starc has been fantastic, but Adam Zampa has been a revelation for the past four or five years.” He’s been the backbone of Australia’s bowling attack, so he was undoubtedly disappointed not to be selected for a Test tour to India.
“But he’s a fantastic performer.” Teams rarely get on top of and control of a leg-spinner in order for him to become a very, very consistent performer. “He’s going to be one of Australia’s trump cards (for the ODI World Cup),” Ponting added.
