Who is Mitchell Starc?

The eighth ICC Men’s T20 World Cup being held in Australia begins on October 17. Australia begins its title defense on home soil with an encounter with neighbour New Zealand on October 22. For its bid for a historic consecutive World Cup triumph to be successful, Australia will need its established players such as Steve Smith, David Warner, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell to perform to the best of their abilities. 

Mitchell Starc is a left arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman. Starc represents Australia in all the three established formats of international cricket.

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Who is Mitchell Starc?

Mitchell Starc was born on 30 Jan 1990 at Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, Australia. He is the elder brother of Brandon Starc, an international level high jumper and also a Commonwealth gold medallist (2018). He attended Homebush Boys High School. He married Australian cricketer Alyssa Healy in 2016 after being engaged to her since 2015.

After successful first class performances, he was named as a part of the team that toured India in late 2010. Unfortunately, Starc didn’t get to play in that series. On Oct 20 2010, he made his ODI debut vs India. His Test debut occurred on Dec 1 2021. Starc was at his incisive best in the 2015 ODI world cup in Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia’s third match against New Zealand, the Aussies scored an agonisingly low score of 150. Starc bowled one his best spells that day, almost bringing Australia insight of a miraculous victory by scalping 6 wickets. Although Australia lost the match, he became the first Australian to take 6 wickets on 2 occasions in ODIs. He had a spectacular event at the World Cup, bagging 22 wickets at the end of it and taking home the prestigious ‘Man of the series’ award. 

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Starc made his IPL debut in 2014 but has been widely appreciated for prioritizing his national duties ahead of IPL infatuations.  Even in the 2019 World Cup, he spearheaded the Aussie pace attack, bagging 27 wickets in all although Australia’s title defense ended in the semi finals. In the 2021-22 Ashes series, Starc performed well both with the ball as well as bat, picking up 19 wickets in 5 matches along with also scoring 155 runs and played a pivotal role in Australia’s comprehensive series win of 4-0.