“It's a very interesting one” - Mitchell Starc on tight turnaround between T20 World Cup and start of home Test season
Australian left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc has described the upcoming phase as an ‘interesting’ one for multi-format players from the country as they will have to jostle between formats.
Starc is likely to be part of the T20 World Cup in the UAE, which is scheduled to end on November 14 in the UAE. Australia’s home summer will begin with the one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting November 27.
However, as per COVID-19 rules, travellers returning to Australia will have to spend 14 days in quarantine. Cricket Australia wouldn’t want Starc to miss out on the Afghanistan game, keeping the Ashes in mind, which begins on December 8.
Opening up on the tight schedule, which could pose a challenge for multi-format players, Starc was quoted as saying by EPSNCricinfo:
"It's a very interesting one. I'm sure Cricket Australia are thinking about it and putting plans in place. The way of the world at the moment throws up a lot hurdles, and then you are throwing two weeks of quarantine, like we are going to have to do coming back from this tour as well; there's a lot of question marks.
Starc, however, pointed out that rules differ according to the venues, and things could be worked on, referring to the home series against India. The Australian pacer added:
"You look back to the summer, and we played Sydney under restrictions; Brisbane was under full quarantine, so there's certainly precedence set there in how we approach different games, especially in Australia. In that respect, I don't think there're any hurdles to get around in playing cricket under quarantine conditions; it's just some of the finer details that government and cricket will have to work together."
The 31-year-old admitted that the multi-format players would want to play as much cricket as they can. Starc said in this regard:
“Test cricket is certainly the pinnacle for a lot of us; certainly it is for me, as is a World Cup, so it will be hard to pick and choose."
It would be nice to get a bit of rhythm of T20 cricket: Mitchell Starc
The Australian limited-overs squad has arrived in West Indies for a crucial tour ahead of the T20 World Cup. Following their Caribbean trip, they will head to Bangladesh for another white-ball series.
While quite a few big names, including Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner and Steve Smith, have withdrawn from the twin tours, Starc will be looking forward to get into rhythm ahead of the T20 World Cup.
"It's a great opportunity for the group to start preparing with a bit more focus on that World Cup," said Starc. "Don't think I've played 10 T20s in the last four years, let alone in the space of a few weeks, so personally, it would be nice to get a bit of a rhythm of T20 cricket… I don't change a whole lot in my preparation across formats, but certainly there'll be a lot more planning and focus on tactically what we'll take from this series."
Australia will commence their West Indies tour with the first T20I at the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on July 9. The series comprises five T20Is and three ODIs.