![]() ![]() The first run of consistent performances by Starc came in the domestic one-day tournament when he took 26 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 8.12, striking once every 12 balls. In the following Shield season, he took 21 wickets in 8 matches including an impressive 5 for 74 against Queensland. After impressive performances in junior cricket, he was finally handed a Sheffield Shield debut for the New South Wales at the age of 19, and managed just 2 wickets in the match. Soon after, he was selected for the New South Wales U-17s, and continued to rise through the ranks. Most crucially, however, he was a great listener, according to D'Costa. In addition to athletic ability, he was said to have great discipline and an undying thirst for knowledge. Starc, the teenager, seemed to have grasped fast-bowling quite quickly, picking up the fundamentals from the aforementioned coach, Neil D'Costa, and bowling at 135km/h by the time he was 16. Following the incident, the aspiring fast bowler, changed lanes and took up batting. Case in point: three decades ago, Dennis Lillee, then in charge of the MRF pace foundation, told a 14-year-old Indian boy of short stature that he couldn't be a fast bowler. The AFL's fabled method of scouting a body-type and building a particular skill around it seemed to be at work again, as it tends to work in favour of the player's ability and aptitude. He pulled the young man aside and demanded that he ditch the wicketkeeping mitts – and that he would teach him how to bowl. Legend has it, that a tall, lanky 14-year-old was spotted by a club coach trying out as a wicketkeeper for the Western Suburbs. It is hard to fathom that the tall, skinny lad from Sydney, who was once an aspiring wicketkeeper in junior cricket, would one day become the most menacing sight for the world's best batsmen. Mitchell Starc – a name that strikes fear into the hearts of contemporary batsmen. ![]()
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