Mitchell Starc surprised by Pakistan's pace drop

24 December, 2023

Pakistan, known for their fierce pace attack, couldn’t trouble the Australian batters in the first match. However, two debutants, Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shazad, showed some positive signs but it was not enough, as their batting collapsed incompetently during the chase.

Starc was surprised by Pakistan’s pace drop as the 33-year-old, just like everyone, has seen Pakistani pacers normally bowl at 150 kph.

"I think everyone was slightly surprised at the lower pace of the Pakistan bowlers, when you're generally used to some guys getting in the 150s [kph]. I don't think that pace is the be all and end all but it certainly plays a part and can help," Starc said.

However, Starc emphasised that pace is not the only factor citing his fellow Australian Scott Boland’s example saying he doesn’t always bowl with maximum pace, but knows how to trouble the batters with line and length.

"Case in point, you look at Scotty Boland who can bowl good wheels, but he's not at your top end of pace bowlers. But he generates a lot of sideways movement here in Melbourne, obviously being his home ground.

He's done it for a long time and we saw that obviously against England, where every ball he bowled could have been a wicket. So I don't think that pace is the be all and end all. Certainly, for our attack we all complement each other really well by doing things very differently," he added.

Squads for the second Test:

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamer Jamal, Sajid Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz.