Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Aaron Starc (born 30 January 1990) is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket.

A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in white-ball cricket as well as one of the best fast bowlers to play the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Starc represents Australia in all three main formats of international cricket: Test cricket, One Day Internationals (ODI), and Twenty20 Internationals.

Starc had a rookie contract with New South Wales for the 2008/09 summer, and in February 2009 was brought into their squad to replace Aaron Bird after Bird was suspended for having an illegal bowling action.

The match was drawn and New South Wales finished on the bottom of the ladder for the 2008–09 Sheffield Shield season as a result.

He made his first-class debut in New South Wales' final match of the season on 5 March 2009 against Western Australia.

Western Australia approached Starc to recruit him for their team in the 2009/10 season, but he already had a contract with New South Wales and stayed with them instead.

In eight Sheffield Shield games through the season, he took 21 wickets, including a best of 5 for 74 against Queensland, and scored a half-century against Victoria.

Starc began playing international cricket in 2010, but the early part of his career was disrupted by persistent injuries.

Starc was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sport in 2010, where his bowling helped the team to win the Emerging Players Twenty20 Trophy over teams from India, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Due to his impressive performances in the 2010 winter, Starc was chosen as a late replacement in Australia's tour of India in late 2010, replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood.

Starc made his international debut on this tour, playing in a One Day International (ODI) against India on 20 October 2010.

He did not bat and was wicketless.

Starc played his second ODI later in the summer, in the final match of Australia's three-match series against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka had already won the series by winning the first two matches, their first ever series win in Australia.

Starc and fellow fast bowler Clint McKay took nine wickets between them in Sri Lanka's innings to set up an eight-wicket win for Australia.

The win ended a seven-match losing streak for Australia.

Ahead of the 2010–11 Ashes series, Starc was selected to play for Australia A in a warm-up match against England.

During a Sheffield Shield match for New South Wales the week before the match, Starc suffered a side-strain injury, ruling him out for four weeks.

As a result, he missed the Australia A match and wasn't considered for selection in the Ashes.

He was selected again to play for Australia A in the 2011 winter for a tri-series in Zimbabwe.

Starc came into contention for a Test cricket debut in the 2011/12 season.

He took two five-wicket hauls against Queensland in November: first in a Sheffield Shield match, then in a one-day match.

Despite New South Wales losing both matches, Starc was named the player of the match in the one-day match because of both his bowling performance and strong hitting late in New South Wales' batting innings.

He was once again selected to play for Australia A, this time in a warm-up match against New Zealand at the end of November.

In 2015, he was the highest-rated bowler in ODI cricket.

He came to worldwide attention as a prominent member of the Australian squad that won the 2015 Cricket World Cup, and was declared Player of the Tournament as a result of his consistent performances throughout the matches.

He also was a part of the team that won the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.

In doing so, he became the leading wicket-taker in successive Cricket World Cup tournaments, having previously achieved the feat in 2015 as well.

As of November 2023, he is the 3rd-highest wicket taker of all time in ICC Cricket World Cups.

He is the fastest bowler in the history of ODI cricket to reach 150 and 200 wickets, taking 77 and 102 matches respectively to reach the milestone.

He is also the fastest bowler in the history of Cricket World Cups to reach 50 wickets, taking just 19 WC games to reach the milestone.

Starc was also a key member of the Australian team that won the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup, and the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.

He is one of five players who have managed to win an ICC trophy in all three formats of the game.

Starc has been noted for his ability to bowl at great pace, with his fastest delivery being measured at over 160.4 km/h (the fastest ever recorded in a Test match), and for generating reverse swing with his bowling.

As of November 2023, he is the 5th-highest wicket-taking bowler for Australia in ODI and Test cricket.

Starc started playing cricket from a young age, at 9 years old for Northern Districts as a wicket keeper.

He was a representative cricketer of the Northern Districts Cricket Association and attended Homebush Boys High School, representing the school's 1st grade cricket team.

He is also a former junior cricketer for the Berala Sports Cricket Club in Sydney, where he was known to wicket keep and bowl in the same innings.

At the 2019 Cricket World Cup, he picked up 27 wickets, which is an all-time record for the most wickets taken in a single edition of the tournament.