Mitchell Starc did things a little differently in preparing for the T20 World Cup, which is being played across this month and next.
Mitchell Starc has credited his time with the women’s national team for helping him come into the T20 World Cup with a spring in his step.
Anticipating that he might not see wife and star wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy for up to six months over the summer, Starc joined the women’s camp for the recent series against India.
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The Aussie quick said, in the absence of recent gametime, it proved to be a great way to ready himself for the World Cup.
“It’s a mixed bag of preparation for everyone, some have been playing some cricket, some have been trying to find ways to prepare for this tour,” he said.
“For me, I’ve spent a fair bit of time with the Australian women’s team and Alyssa. That was a good period of mental and physical preparation for me.
“I’m feeling good about it.”
While Starc was adamant he hadn’t been called in to coach, he said he was more than happy to pitch in around training when called upon.
“I was happy to be around where needed and if questions were asked, to give my two cents worth. I was happy to catch balls at fielding practice and be around in the background,” he said.
“They’re a fantastic group to be around, I was hugely grateful for them to have me around and to pass on a little bit of experience, certainly around the pink ball and white ball formats for some of the young fast bowlers.
“They’ve got a great group of young fastbowlers coming through.”
Starc said he learned plenty from the experience as well.
“They’re a team that finds ways to win from almost any position, even when they’re not playing their best cricket,” he said.
“They’re a fantastic group off the field, there’s certainly no egos in that group.”
Starc believes there’s room for the women’s and men’s national sides to work together more closely.
“The collaboration could be better between two really strong Australian teams going forward,” he said.
“Schedules aren’t the greatest thing for that, but whether we find certain times during the year … I do think there’s certainly room for both teams to learn from one another.”
Australia begins its World Cup campaign against South Africa on October 23. Starc is confident the Aussies have what it takes to match it with the heavyweights of the T20 world despite their haphazard preparation.
“We’ve got a really well balanced squad that I think we all feel covers all bases,” he said.
“We’re all in a position now where we’ve played enough cricket to know what we need to best prepare ourselves for these sorts of tournament.”
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