Mitchell Starc Credits His Hat-Trick to Some Exceptional Bowling by Hazlewood and Cummins

Australian left-arm speedster Mitchell Starc has sent some strong message to the England side just ahead of the Ashes after becoming the first bowler in Sheffield Shield history to bag two hat-tricks in the same match. Starc destroyed the Western Australian tail in both the innings to end up finishing with two hat-tricks in the same match. Following a period where he was sidelined due to injury, Starc has made a stunning comeback and has bagged 17 wickets in 2 Sheild matches at an outstanding average of 12.70.

England will be a worried unit given the form the Australia pace trio showed during the Shield Game. On the other hand, the English batsmen have struggled in a couple of practise matches so far. However, Starc credited the performance of his fellow pacers for allowing him to achieve the exceptional feat.

“I think I was just used at the right times and cleaned up the tail against WA,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Monday (November 13). “Josh (Hazlewood) was the one who blasted out the top order and Patty (Cummins) bowled really well in the middle,” Starc said.

Although Starc’s hat-tricks were the highlight of the match, the wickets were shared by his fellow quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. The trio hasn’t played Test cricket together due to the injuries suffered to all three of them at different parts of their career. However, Cummins has been the most unlucky bowler, but the trio is finally set to play together if everything remains normal in leading up to the opening Ashes Test in Brisbane.

“He was straight back into his Test form after one over of Shield cricket,” Starc said of Hazlewood. “He’s a bloody genius with line and length, it allows Pat and I to be aggressive and that’s how I bowl.”

The left-arm pacer conceded that the trio complements each other “really well”.

“We can unleash from the other end, bowl as quick as we can and attack,” he said. “He (Hazlewood) takes his wickets with line and length and Pat and I come in and try and blast teams out, try and attack the stumps and really intimidate.”

Despite not being at their best in the recent times. Australia are the hot favourites to reclaim the Ashes given their fearsome pace attack. Last time when the two teams played in Australia, the hosts thrashed England 5-0, and the pioneer of that series victory was none other than Mitchell Johnson who sends shivers down the spine of the English batsmen during the series.

However, Starc said:

“It doesn’t have to be one guy who stands up, if someone has a Mitchell Johnson-type series, fantastic,” he said. “But if we win the Ashes it doesn’t matter who gets all the wickets. I think we have an attack that is gelling well.

“Hopefully we can stay together as a (bowling) group and do something special over the next few years,” he added.