Starc lashes out at Australia’s selection policy

Says it is difficult to show consistency without playing back-to-back games.

SYDNEY:

Australia paceman Mitchell Starc has shown his frustration over Cricket Australia’s (CA) selection policy, saying it is difficult to deliver consistency ‘when you play one game and you’re dropped’.

The left-arm quick has been in and out of the Australian side over the past nine months, and during the current Ashes series in England the pattern has continued.

After starting in the first Test, he was left out of the second at Lord’s before returning for the third at Old Trafford, only to be sidelined yet again at Durham.

The treatment has clearly upset the 23-year-old fast-bowler, who is the second-highest-paid player on CA’s books but has been unable to nail down a permanent place in the Test line-up, reported Fairfax Media yesterday.

‘’Yeah, I guess it would be nice to get a few games back-to-back and get that rhythm,” said Starc.

“But to have a chance at that consistency that everyone talks about – ‘you’ve got to be more consistent’ – well, it’s a bit hard when you play one game and you’re dropped.”

Prominent former players and the media have regularly criticised Australia’s contentious use of the player rotation policy, particularly for fast-bowlers, designed to guard them against breaking down from too much cricket.

Test leg-spin great Shane Warne once said: “When we were number one there weren’t mission statements flying around, but we got the selection process right and the best XI were selected for every game.”

Starc, who has taken eight wickets in two matches at 27.12 in the Ashes series, said he had to show at training he was ready to return to the team.

‘’So in the end it comes back to getting better off the field and making sure I’m nailing everything and making sure I’m knocking down that door to be in the team,” he said.

Starc is now hoping to return for the final Test at The Oval starting tomorrow.



Cummins to miss most of Australian season

Young Australia fast-bowler Pat Cummins is expected to miss most of the 2013-14 domestic season due to the recurrence of a back injury, said CA yesterday.

Cummins, 20, returned home early from Australia A’s tour of South Africa last week with a back complaint in yet another injury setback.

“Pat has some side/back soreness,” said CA Chief Medical Officer Justin Paoloni in a statement. “Scans have shown a partial recurrence of his lower back bone stress injury suffered in October last year when he returned home from the Champions League.

“He will be closely monitored to determine his return to the playing field, but expect that he will miss most of the 2013-14 domestic cricket season.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2013.

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