Star Australia fast bowler, Mitchell Starc, who suffered an injury to his left leg after colliding with a training equipment, has revealed the details about the magnanimity of the wound that he sustained. The 26-year-old, who was required to have 30 stitches to his left leg to keep a deep laceration at bay, also expressed his willingness to be fit by October 25 in order to participate in New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield opener. The left-arm quick was confident about his participation in Australia’s first Test of the summer – against South Africa – that starts on November 3 at the WACA Stadium, Perth.
The pacer escaped a major injury scare after he collided with a piece of training equipment while trying to attempt a catch during a training session at Sydney’s Hurstville Oval on September 15. While he had to undergo a surgery, as he was rushed to a nearby hospital immediately after the accident, the turn of events as they unfolded before the cricketer’s eyes reveal the bigger picture.
“Unfortunately it was a training accident that should have been avoided,” said Starc.
“Accidents happen. We were doing a fielding test as part of our Australian camp before the boys left for the South African tour. We were doing high catching out of a ball machine. It was quite a windy day so I’ve gone after this ball to try and catch it and it was getting away from me and (I) slid to catch it.
“The next part of the drill – which was meant to happen later down the track – was throwing down stumps, (which were) set up behind us. I, unfortunately, slid into the metal plate at the base of the stumps.”
I want to play the first Sheffield Shield game: Starc
To the bowler’s advantage, there was no structural damage to his leg and he was released from the hospital after four days, with a precautionary brace attached to his left limb.
“I knew I’d hit the metal plate because it was quite sore, so I thought I might have a bit of a cut there and it's only sore because the bone has hit the metal. I looked down and there’s a big hole in the pants, (I) saw a flap of skin and threw my hand on it to try and stop anything that was going on. I couldn’t see much,” continued Starc, as he elucidated the trauma, albeit brief, that he had to go through.
“Then the pain started to get a lot stronger and kept hitting me and I thought something might be a bit worse. The doctors came over and I couldn’t watch from there.”
As a consequence, Starc had to sit out of Australia’s tour to South Africa, wherein they are supposed to play 5 ODIs in addition to the one-off ODI match against Ireland, which they won by 9 wickets.
As to whether Starc’s absence would hurt Australia’s chances in the series is yet to be ascertained, but a bowler who catapulted himself to the pinnacle of the Test bowlers’ rankings after picking up 24 wickets from 3 Tests in Australia’s 3-0 series whitewash in Sri Lanka would surely be missed by his teammates.
On his comeback trail, the speedster said, “For me, the goal is still the first Shield game. I want to play that one, and being a pink ball game at the Gabba it’s going to be new for the NSW team and for me as well.
“If that’s out of the picture the next one is being right for the preparation for the first Test and making sure I don’t miss any games for Australia.”
Australia have a long home season ahead of themselves, wherein they are scheduled to play three Tests each against South Africa and Pakistan – with the Pakistan leg having a day-night Test as well – before they travel to India in February-March next year to participate in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that comprises of 4 Tests.
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