Mitchell Starc Bags Hattrick on Road to Ashes

Published 11/06/2017, 11:22 AM EST

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via Reuters

Mitchell Starc bagged a hattrick for New South Wales in their Sheffield Shield game against Western Australia. Starc missed Australia’s tour of Bangladesh in August with a foot injury. He took 4-56 during the match. Three of those wickets came in successive balls as he dispatched Jason Behrendorff, David Moody and Simon Mackin. The only other scalp was Jonathan Wells.

via Imago

Starc said “They are taking the Mickey out of me for cleaning up the tail again, but someone’s got to do it. I am pretty sure they all know where it is going and they all keep missing it so I will keep bowling it for now. I was pretty happy with my rhythm yesterday and today.”

In his only other four-day game since returning from injury, Starc took 10 wickets in the match, including 8-73 in the second innings, as his NSW side hammered South Australia. He already has 14 wickets from three Shield innings at an average of 12.50. Starc is set to suit up for Australia alongside fellow Blues pacemen Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who claimed 3-24 and 2-31 respectively against the Warriors. Australia spinner Nathan Lyon also chipped in with the ball for the Blues with 1-39.

Starc also proved to be quite handy with the bat as he smashed 43 runs in 61 balls in the 1st innings. In the process, he fired seven 4s and a 6. He was the second-highest scorer in the match behind Steve Smith and had the highest strike rate of 70.49. With regard to his bowling figures, he wrapped up the match with an economy of 2.80. Starc’s performance in this match certainly sends a few warning shots in England’s direction ahead of the 1st Ashes test.

The first Ashes Test begins in Brisbane on 23 November.

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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