Australian left-armer is the world’s top-ranked Test bowler for the first time in his decorated career
Mitchell Starc has usurped Jasprit Bumrah as the best Test bowler in the world on the International Cricket Council’s rankings.
Starc’s match-winning effort in Mackay, where he claimed 10 wickets and helped Australia crush Bangladesh in a two-day Test, earned him top spot on the ICC’s charts.
It’s the first time the left-armer has reached No.1 on the Test bowling rankings and it comes on the back of a stellar 15 months in the format, which has seen him claim 63 wickets at 17.33 in 11 matches since last year’s World Test Championship final.
Starc snared 31 wickets to claim player of the series honours in last summer 4-1 Ashes triumph and again took the series accolade last Sunday in 1-1 drawn with Bangladesh after being taking 6-12 and 4-39 in the second-Test rout.
In the first innings in Mackay, the speedster needed just 22 balls to capture the 19th five-wicket haul of his career, just shy of his 15-ball record when he claimed 6-9 to roll West Indies for 27 in Jamaica last year.
Bumrah’s (now ranked second) latest reign at the top lasted just two months but he has a combined 697 days at No.1, which is the most by an India bowler and the 14th-most ever.
Starc, whose previous best position was second that he first achieved after last year’s Boxing Day Test, leapfrogged the Indian pace ace and New Zealand’s Matt Henry (now third) to take top spot.
The 36-year-old now sits 10th on the list of all-time Test wicket-takers with 445 scalps, having overtaken South Africa’s Dale Steyn (439) on the standings with his haul in Mackay.
Starc said ahead of Australia’s two-Test series against Bangladesh that a clearer head and an ability to let things go were the secrets behind his remarkable form at an age when most fast bowlers have slowed down.
“You’re never as good or bad as you think or other people think you are,” he said.
“I still moan and whinge about anything that goes wrong or feels wrong. Even heading into (last) summer, it didn’t feel like it clicked until the day before the Ashes.
“But I think what’s been a feature of our group and led by ‘Ron’ (coach Andrew McDonald) and Pat (Cummins, Australia’s captain), is that whether it’s a good day, bad day, good over, bad spell, it’s done. Move on.
“When you’re 36 and you’ve been around for 16 years, you’d like to think you’ve improved or got better at something. You’re also around that long because you’re able to develop and learn and improve.”
Nathan Lyon has also moved up two places to 10th after his three second-Test wickets, while Cameron Green’s recent form, which included his first Test century on Australian soil in the series opener in Darwin, has seen him jump nine places to 21st spot in the batter rankings.
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets in Darwin
Second Test: Australia won by an innings and 51 runs in Mackay
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Chowdhury, Shoriful Islam, Musfik Hasan
