Sri Lanka vs Australia 2016: Mitchell Starc says he will not change bowling style

Mitchell Starc’s early attack has proved beneficial for the Australian team

In the first ODI against Australia, Sri Lanka were beaten by a very wide margin and seemed to fail the test against the brilliant spin attack that Australia set up. However, another highlight of the match was Mitchell Starc picking up his hundredth One Day International wicket and, in the process, became the quickest player to achieve this feat. He surpassed the record set by Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq nearly two decades ago.

Taking up a hundred wickets in 52 matches is not a small feat and Mitchell Starc‘s strike rate has been on the constant rise for quite some time now and he has quickly established himself as one of the most consistent bowlers in the lineup.

Starc also said that he does not particularly focus on different bowling styles for different formats of cricket and tries to keep it as consistent as possible. “It’s something I do in all formats of cricket is try and take wickets often. If I can get one in the first over more often than not, I think we can get away to a good start," he said.

He further attributed his success to erstwhile bowling coach for Australia, Craig McDermott, with whom he trained before the World Cup. "There was a lot of work done before that with Craig McDermott especially, in the 12 months prior to the World Cup. Tinkering on a few things with my wrist (position) and swinging the ball, and in the tri-series (against England and India) before the World Cup I think everything started to click and it all felt really good."

What Starc has managed to do is establish a reputation for himself as a quick striker. For a long time now he has been known to create a ruckus for the opposition during a time period that is usually set aside for creating a strong foundation for the batting side. This started during Australia's World Cup campaign in their match against New Zealand. Starc dismissed the captain, Brendon McCullum in just the fifth ball of the match at the MCG.

Speaking to Cricket Australia’s website about his prowess, Starc admitted that the support he receives from his teammates allows to him bowl without any inhibition. "We always talk about setting the tone, and more often than not I get the first over. So I want to try and set a good tone, and a wicket is the best way to do that.". A wicket in the first over undoubtedly builds up a lot of pressure on the opposite side.

Since Australia's World Cup triumph, Starc has taken a wicket in the opening over nine times. He repeated the feat in a Test against the West indies in Jamaica, against England at Lord's and against Sri Lanka in Galle and Colombo. Despite being injured and out of play for six months since Australia's triumph, Starc has returned stronger and more aggressive.

"I’m not going to change the way I bowl, I’m going to be aggressive and try and bowl as fast as I can and take wickets. And having Josh (Hazlewood) at the other end allows me to do that because he can bowl so consistently and doesn’t really go for many runs. So I think that allows me to bowl as fast as I can and as aggressively as I can," he added.

Starc's brilliance rages over using the white ball too where he has delivered similar blows to Ireland, England and West Indies among others.

Here is a video displaying Mitchell Starc’s bowling prowess