"They are all nice things to tick off": Mitchell Starc after crossing 350 Test wickets landmark
Jan 25, 2024
Brisbane [Australia], January 25 : Australia left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc opines that it was "humbled" to surpass 350 Test wickets during the second Test of the two-match series against West Indies at The Gabba on Thursday.
Till the end of play on Day one at Brisbane, the experienced speedster has snapped four wickets in his spell of 20 overs where he has conceded 68 runs so far. He has grabbed the wickets of Alick Athhanaze, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kavem Hodge and Justin Greeves.
After crossing the 350-wicket mark, Starc became the third pacer and fourth bowler overall to achieve any kind of landmark this summer after Nathan Lyon [500th Test wicket] and Pat Cummins-Josh Hazelwood [250 Test wickets].
The 33-year-old currently has 351 Test wickets and he is just four wickets behind the Australia legend Dennis Lillee. If the New South Wales-born cricketer surpasses Lillee, then he will become the second most wicket-taker after great Glenn McGrath (563 wickets) in terms of fast-bowlers.
Starc asserted that there are 150 wickets more to go in his Test career.
"Numbers are nice, [it's] something else to reflect on when I'm all done. Still got some wickets to take. Nice to have an impact today, go past that one...Gaz [Lyon] was saying there's another 150 to go," Starc said after the end of play on Day 1.
The bowler further stated that the feeling of the dressing room at the moment.
"They are all nice things to tick off and very humbling [to close in on Lillee] but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Need 20 wickets to win and we'll all reflect on [the landmarks] when we are finished, sitting around with a beer at a golf course somewhere. At the moment we are just enjoying our cricket as a group of players," the experienced cricketer added.
Talking about the match, West Indies ended the day with a total of 266/8 with Kevin Sinclair unbeaten with a score of 16. Kavem Hodge and Joshua Da Silva's 149-run stand pulled West Indies out of a dire situation on Day 1 of the second Test against Australia at the Gabba.
