Mitchell Starc Breaks Bowling World Record As Australia Defeated Sri Lanka In The First ODI

Mitchell Starc, the bowler is the latest talk of the town. The whole sports world is bowled by his latest record. He could not complete his 100 ODI Wicket in the tri-series in the West Indies, but in the first ODI against Sri Lanka he came with dangerous attacking strategy and snatched three straight defeats.

Starc played one of his most dominant games in this series, his smooth run-up, zing through the air and smashing stumps of the batsman made him the fastest bowler to achieve 100 wickets in just 52 matches.

He took Kusal Perera’s wickets as his 99th in ODI cricket and as soon as he dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva caught at midwicket off a slower ball, he became the fastest bowler to achieve 100 wickets in terms of games played.

Achieving this milestone made Starc a game quicker than Pakistan’s spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who set the mark of 100 wickets in 53 games 20 years ago. Shane Bond holds the third place to achieve the fastest 100 wickets mark.

After the opening ODI Starc’s team-mate Aaron Finch said that the team thought he would get it in the tri-series in the West Indies( June 2016) but he did not knock any wickets in the final match.

Starc has recently created an image of a genuine force in Test cricket with his form, fitness and confidence but he was always a monster in ODI format of gentlemen’s game. Starc’s attacks on stumps has been heroic, he always swing the ball in air as he is playing the first match of his life.

He is wicked when he attempts yorkers, yet his full tosses are equally dreadful. He often swerves the ball in air at a highest pace and his straight balls make you exclaim.

37 of his 101 wickets in ODI are knocked by hitting stumps and it’s a huge percentage. The New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum was the World Cup’s talisman but in the final, Starc produced the counter-jinx and detonated the New Zealand captain on the third ball.

Starc holds many records and his list is probably more impressive than a World Cup trophy. He has the third-best ever strike rate that is 24.4 and his average of 19.52 is the fifth-best.

His recent achievement does not only made him the best bowler to achieve 100 wickets mark but his spell also helped smashing Sri Lanka in the opening match of ODI series on Sunday.

Australia surely had some cheer as they swept to a three-wicket win over Sri Lanka. An explosive start by Aaron Finch made Australia’s game stronger.

Australia won the toss and skipper Smith decided to bowl first, after they restricted Sri Lanka to a modest total of 227 runs in 50 overs opener Finch and Smith stole the show.

Thanks to James Faulkner and Mitchell Starc Sri Lanka was unable to produce more runs but Finch’s innings of  two sixes and seven boundaries in a 46-ball 56 worked just about right for Australia.

Skipper Smith played an innings of a  92-ball 58 and Australia reached to the total of 228 runs with the loss of just 7 wickets with  19 balls to spare.

Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera took three wickets for Sri Lanka but despite a  flurry of late wickets Australia managed to win the game.

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22 August 2016
Avni S. Singh