Australia paceman Mitchell Starc has recalled the tumultuous phase of his career, where he wanted to stop playing the game in the past two years. The 31-year-old Starc managed to keep his cricket going despite a below-par outing against India at home.
He also lost his father to cancer. But a remarkable comeback resulted in him being crowned as the Allan Border medallist on Saturday. All-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and Starc were the maiden Belinda Clark and Allan Border medallists respectively, having been awarded the top honours in Australian cricket.
“The last two years, as life is at the moment, there’s a lot of ups and downs. You find ways to adapt and what not, but it’s a reflection of the support base I have had throughout those two years as well. There have certainly been times when I haven’t played my best cricket or certainly times over those two years where I didn’t want to play any cricket. I’m very thankful for my support networks and in particular Alyssa, to play cricket at the highest level [and] be there to support me as well, I can’t thank her enough for that,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Starc as saying.
“It goes back to the work you do behind the scenes and the work you put in with strength and conditioning and time spent with physios and what not. A huge thanks to the support staff, particularly [Australian Men’s] physio David Beakley to keep me on the park for five Test matches and keep me on the park for five and let me play five,” he further added.
Starc was heavily criticised after he took just 11 wickets at 40.72 in the series against India. His performance in the ICC T20 World Cup was also mediocre. He gave away 60 runs without taking a wicket in his four overs in the final.
The pacer then thrived in the Ashes Tests and finished with 19 wickets at an average of 25.37, playing a vital role in his team’s 4-0 series victory. Starc took 43 wickets across all formats in the 12-month period, and edged out all-rounder Mitchell Marsh by one vote to win the honour. He also scored 241 runs across all formats at an average of 26.8 to sit inside Australia’s top 10 run-scorers over the past 12 months.
I went through periods years ago where seeing any criticism or different opinions was almost a bit of a spur for me to stick it up to them, but a couple of years ago I made that decision to get away from it all. Think that’s helped me stay really level between some really good stuff and not so good stuff and not let it affect me at all,” Starc further said.
