Mitchell Starc is determined to establish himself in the Australia squad once and for all after sitting out their last two games.
Left-armer eyes tour to West Indies
Mitchell Starc is determined to establish himself in the Australia squad once and for all after sitting out their last two games.
The 22-year-old left-armer was axed in favour of Ryan Harris for the Commonwealth Bank Series games against Sri Lanka and India after taking just five wickets in the first five matches.
But he responded by taking 4-39 for New South Wales against Western Australia and is confident of forcing his way back in for the upcoming tour of the West Indies.
"I had a pretty lengthy conversation with (coach) Mickey Arthur the other day leading up to this game," he said. "They're pretty happy with how I've been coming along and I'm just trying to improve at every chance I get.
"Someone had to miss out and my returns weren't what I would have liked them to be.
"I've been dropped and I've got a long way to go with my bowling and a lot to learn.
"But I'm only 22 and if someone had told me at this time last season I'd have played three Tests and [seven] one-dayers for Australia by now, I'd have laughed at them."
Action
Starc could face reduced competition for his place after injured Western Australia all-rounder Mitch Marsh indicated he would focus primarily on his batting once he has recovered from a long lay-off.
A stress fracture in his back is expected to rule the 20-year-old out for up to six months and he plans to respond by limiting his bowling and modifying his action, with the help of Australia great Dennis Lillee.
Marsh said: "I want to predominantly be a batsman who bowls a bit. I've had a few injuries from bowling that has cost me a lot of cricket so it's something I'm going to have to work on.
"It's obviously going to be something that I'm going to have to look at.
"I've still got a lot of time on my hands to work on my bowling. Realistically my batting hasn't been up to scratch in four-day cricket so that's something that I want to work on and be a batsman that bowls."
He added: "(Former WA coach) Daryl Foster will have a look at my action over the coming months and hopefully Dennis Lillee can help me out with that.
"Obviously he's taken a few wickets in his time and hopefully he can help me out if he sees anything I can work on."
