Mitchell Starc has surprised everyone as he has declared himself fit for the first Test against South Africa which starts on 3rd November in Perth. He feels he is on the right track to recovery after a terrible training injury.
The 26 year old Ace bowler of Australia suffered deep cuts after falling in training sessions. His left knee was cut open after he collided into some equipment requiring over 30 stitches. An emergency surgery was performed after he was rushed into the hospital.
After five weeks of recuperation, which also involved walking around with a leg brace, Starc announced on Thursday (Oct 20th) that he is willing to play for New South Wales’ first shield match of the season against Queensland. Starc hopes to get some bowling practice from this match which starts from Tuesday.
“I’ll hopefully be on that plane on Monday to Brisbane and get some good bowling in and be back playing and ready to go for that first Test,” said Starc in Sydney.
The Australian side dreadfully missed their bowling spearhead as they were whitewashed by the South Africans 5-0 in the One Day International series which concluded earlier this month.
He was definitely the backbone of Australian bowling attack prior to the South African onslaught. He picked up 24 wickets at an average of 15.16 in the three match Test series against Sri Lanka which was whitewashed by the Aussies.
Starc said he is back in the game and has been bowling for roughly two weeks. “Since then it’s been fine,” he said. “I’ve been bowling off the long run at a net session with the NSW boys (on Tuesday) and will bowl at them again today and probably have another session before going over to Brisbane on Monday.”
The second and the third Test of the three match series will be played in Hobart and Adelaide respectively.