Five Tests in seven weeks, Cameron Green’s absence and the spectre of recent late-series fade-outs will factor into Australia’s management of one its greatest bowling attacks this summer.
Australia’s 10-year Border-Gavaskar drought looms as the single outlier in the combined CV of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon.
Australia’s attack went unchanged through five home Tests last year, with the all-conquering quartet finishing the summer with more wickets than any other playing together in Test history.
But given Green’s season-ending injury will add to their bowling load and India boasts an imposing batting line-up – despite being dismissed for 46 against New Zealand this week – Starc concedes change-ups could well be needed throughout the five-Test series.
Touring sides have often improved as summer wears on and they adjust to conditions.
But a late-series loss to the West Indies in January and India’s famed 2020/21 triumph (secured with stunning fourth innings batting in Sydney and Brisbane), also loom large given these are the only two summers of the past decade when Australia’s attack bowled unchanged.
Mitchell Starc during India’s remarkable win at the Gabba in 2021.Credit: AP
“There’s certainly times where you feel the grind of five Tests,” Starc said.
“There can be [exhaustion]. It just depends on how many days you are in the field, how many overs you’ve bowled … Whether you change your attack or your team as the series goes on is dictated by how the Tests go throughout the summer, how blokes’ bodies are handling it and how the results go as well.”
Scott Boland, slated to bowl for Victoria against Test hopeful Sam Konstas from Sunday in a NSW-Victoria Sheffield Shield match, and Queensland veteran Michael Nesser lead Australia’s pace reinforcements. Uncapped speedster Lance Morris is still recovering from a quad strain but is due to return in coming weeks.
Bowler-friendly conditions and strong performances helped keep Australia’s first-choice attack on the paddock last season, with none of the five home Tests going into a fifth and final day.
Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Sean Abbott will all turn out for NSW against Victoria on Sunday.Credit: Getty Images
Green’s exit as a genuine fourth seam option does pose a dilemma, though. While he went wicketless during India’s last tour, he has claimed 22 wickets at an average of 20 on home soil since, often jagging key scalps when Australia needed a breakthrough.
Marsh insisted during the week that he can take on extra bowling duties despite rarely taking the ball last summer, and only bowling four overs at any level since tearing his hamstring during the IPL in April.
“It’s always going to change the dynamic when you take a genuine all-rounder like Cameron Green, or likewise with England when you take a Ben Stokes out,” Starc said.
“When you have that genuine all-rounder, who’s been a part of a group for a while, you get into a bit of a routine with that extra bowling option. That’s going to change a little bit.
“I don’t know what the dynamic of that line-up is going to be, there is a lot of talk around that opening spot and Mitch (Marsh) bowling as well.
“It’s not completely foreign. We’ve had series in the past where we haven’t had an allrounder at all.
“We’ve had to take some of that workload, and Gaz (Nathan Lyon) has probably had to bowl a bit extra as well… There is obviously a big gap between the first and second Test and the third and fourth Test. That may play a part as well.
“We don’t know what wickets we’ll get, we don’t know how successful or unsuccessful we will be.”
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