A frustrated Mitchell Starc decided to head to the Perth Stadium practice nets at the end of the third day of the First Test match between Australia and Pakistan last week.
Starc was bowling wayward in the first innings, which is why he wanted a solution to the problem.
Andrew McDonald and Daniel Vettori, Australia’s coaches, went running after him as he had bowled almost a quarter of a century overs in the first innings, and bowling any further could damage his body.
Starc was frustrated with the technical issue which was making him bowl wide and down the legside of a right-handed batter.
McDonald had a long discussion with Starc on the ground at stumps on day two after the bowler’s concerns first emerged, while bowling mentor Vettori had been going through footage of Starc’s deliveries trying to narrow down the root cause of his troubles.
Starc wanted to figure it out himself: “I like to think I’m experienced enough to be able to problem solve and work it out on my own,” he told cricket.com.au.
In the nets, Starc, McDonald and Vettori realized that the issue was his bowling arm not following an ‘up and down’ motion, triggering a chain reaction that meant he was struggling to hold a consistent line.
He bowled 12 balls and identified the issue.
A day later, Starc took the first over and was on the mark from ball one. It only took six balls to find a flaw in Pakistani opener, Abdullah Shafique’s, rock-tight technique.
He finished with the scalps of three of Pakistan’s top six and might have had more if wickets did not keep tumbling down the other end.
