Mitchell Starc wickets in international cricket

Mitchell Starc international wickets – All you need to know

When we talk about Mitchell Starc Wickets, his peach of a delivery to knock over James Vince in the Ashes flashes in front of our eyes. Or that pinpoint yorker to Ben Stokes in the 2019 ODI World Cup. How can we forget his delivery to Brendon McCullum in the 2015 World Cup? The point is, there are several iconic moments in Mitchell Starc's career and we'll be talking about them here. 

Mitchell Starc has been one of the frontline bowlers for Australia across the three formats for nearly a decade. Alongside Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, he has formed one of the best bowling units in the sport. Starc has struggled for consistency in recent times but he has bamboozled batters with pace and swing for most of his career.

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Australia missed his pace in the Edgbaston Test of the ongoing Ashes, and there is a good chance he could be back for the second game at Lord's. Ahead of the Test, have a look at Mitchell Starc wickets and his career summary.

Mitchell Starc wickets: Career summary

The left-arm fast bowler has represented Australia in 247 international matches in all formats and there have been 608 Mitchell Starc wickets. He has 79 Test matches to date and has been a prolific wicket-taker. Mitchell Starc Test wickets are 316 at an average of 27.64. 

Starc has been one of the best limited-overs bowlers as well. In ODIs, he has claimed 219 wickets from 110 games at an excellent average of 22.09. Starc has made 58 appearances for Australia in T20I cricket, picking 73 wickets at 7.63 economy.

Having given a summary of his career, let's now shed some light on Starc's journey in international cricket and some of his best performances.

Mitchell Starc journey 

Mitchell Starc was born on January 30, 1990, in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. In his budding years, Starc was known to keep wickets but he later shifted his focus to fast bowling and had bagged a rookie contract with New South Wales in 2008-09. He made his first-class debut in their final match of the season on 5 March 2009. 

The next season was productive for Starc as he went on to pick 21 wickets from eight games in the Sheffield Shield. For his impressive performances in domestic cricket in 2010, Starc was called up to the Australian side for the tour of India. He made his ODI debut at Visakhapatnam but went wicketless. Three weeks later, he snared 4 for 27 in his second ODI against Sri Lanka at Brisbane. 

In December 2011, Starc made his Test debut against New Zealand at Brisbane. He had a few good performances here and there in his early year but he did not get a consistent run in Test cricket until 2015. He also had to deal with several injuries. 

Starc continued his rise in the fifty-over format and was sensational in the 2015 ODI World Cup where he cemented his legacy. He picked 22 wickets in the tournament at an incredible average of 10.18 and was awarded the Player of the Tournament as Australia went on to lift the trophy in front of the home crowd. 

In the next World Cup in 2019, Starc finished as the highest wicket-taker with 27 wickets from 10 games at 18.59 apiece. He is the fastest bowler to reach the 200-wicket mark in ODIs. With two incredible World Cup campaigns, Starc has put his name amongst the greatest ODI bowlers of all time. 

As for Test cricket, their 2016 tour of Sri Lanka was the turning point for him where he picked 11/94 in one of the Tests. Starc continued his good form and claimed 22 wickets from four Tests during the 2017-18 Ashes. Starc only played only one Test during the 2019 Ashes but did well in the next Ashes at home in 2021-22. Starc claimed 19 wickets in five games at 25.36 as Australia won the series by 4-0. 

Mitchell Starc best performances: Test, ODI, T20I 

Mitchell Starc has several match-winning performances in all formats. Starc has 13 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and nine in One-Day Internationals. He has changed the complexion of the match with his spells and here we will talk about some of his best. 

Mitchell Starc is fine with being the "whipping boy". He's got his eye on 100 Tests.

Feature story by @AdamBurnett09 #Ashes

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 6, 2023

The left arm speedster's best match figures in red-ball cricket read 11/94. It came against Sri Lanka in the second Test of their three-match series at Galle in 2016. Starc bowled 16.1 overs in the first innings and claimed 5 for 44 with seven maidens. He backed it up with 6 for 50 in 12.3 overs in the second essay. These remain the best match figures by an Australian bowler in Sri Lanka. However, Australia lost this Test as their batters failed to deliver in both innings. 

Sri Lanka were on the receiving end of another Mitchell Starc masterclass in the second Test of their 2019 tour down under. This was at Canberra after the hosts posted 534/5 in their first innings. Starc ran through the Lankan line-up with 5 for 54 in the first innings and 5 for 46 in the second as they hammered Sri Lanka by 366 runs. 

Also Read: Australia Ashes Squad 2023: Breakdown of all 16 players

Mitchell Starc's best ODI figures came against their trans-Tasman rivals in the 2015 World Cup. The late great Shane Warne had questioned Starc's place in the lead-up to the match and the fast bowler responded with a stunning performance. Australia were bowled out for just 151 in this group fixture at Eden Park and the Kiwis were 78/1 inside eight overs. Pat Cummins removed McCullum before Starc rattled the New Zealand batting line-up. He picked 6 for 28 in nine overs to take the match down to the wire, although New Zealand came out on top by one wicket. 

Talking about T20I cricket, Starc registered his best bowling performance in 2022 in the build-up to the T20 World Cup. He claimed 4 for 20 off his four overs at the Gabba as Australia defeated West Indies by 31 runs to clinch the series 2-0. He is also the first Australian men's bowler to pick 50 T20 wickets.