Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc criticises SSC footholes

The deep footholes on the crease at the SSC ground in Colombo where the final Test between Sri Lanka and Australia is taking place, has attracted criticism from off-spinner Nathan Lyon and now Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc. The 26-year-old, who is the leading wicket-taker in the series admitted that the area hasn’t been maintained properly throughout the series and that has been an issue for the visitors’ fast bowlers.

After day one, Lyon wasn’t happy with the landing area at the crease and now Starc has joined in after day two. The left arm fast bowler spoke about the issue to the umpires as the place where he landed his feet wasn’t solid.

“It’s not great,” Starc said. “Nathan mentioned a few things yesterday about how it is after a day-one wicket. The fact that they fill the holes with not much and it was still wet this morning, and has been after each innings that we've bowled through the series, and the fact they've probably bowled 15 overs of pace through the whole series, it is a bit easier for the spinners to land on than it is for our quicks.

"I understand the wicket is what it is and both teams play on that, but the actual bowling crease has been pretty disappointing this Test match."

Earlier in the game, the off-spinner joked that he hit water as “the hole’s that deep”. “It’s ridiculous on a day-one wicket, if I am being brutally honest," he said. "It creates a lot of problems, not just for me - Josh Hazlewood lands in the middle of it, so, hopefully, the curators can somehow fix that.”

Although he has complained about the issue, it doesn’t seem to be affecting Starc’s performance with the ball as he picked up his third consecutive five-wicket haul in Sri Lanka’s first innings and is on his way towards finish with the most wickets by any fast bowler in a Test series in Sri Lanka.

Speaking about the platform set by Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh towards the end of day two, Starc was hopeful that they could continue and take things forwar.

"Boys started the innings really well," Starc said. "We're one down, unfortunately, but the way Shaun and Steve played through that last session was great, what we've looked for the whole series. It's just a couple Test matches too late. But positive signs, obviously. We've got four Test matches in India early next year, so we're making good steps forward. It's just happened too late in this series.”