Mitchell Starc a major doubt for fourth Ashes Test after leaving Perth on crutches

Damage done: Starc may miss the MCG
News Corp Australia
Tom Collomosse19 December 2017

Mitchell Starc is a big doubt for Boxing Day at the MCG after the Australia quick, the leading wicket taker in the series, left Perth airport on crutches on Tuesday.

Australia say Starc is suffering from a bruised heel, which restricted his ability to bowl in the second innings at the WACA, though he did produce a remarkable delivery that hit a crack in the wicket and bowled James Vince on the fourth evening.

Speaking after the third Test, captain Steve Smith said: "Having seen [Starc] just there he just said 'I'm playing', whether he has a choice in the matter I'm not sure.

"But he wants to play. I think he was a little bit sore, he said it didn't get any worse when he was bowling. But that's something we have to sum up. We've wrapped the series up here and we'd love to win 5-0 and have the big three going all the time.

"But we've also got an important tour to South Africa after this series, which we'd love to have him available for. A few things for us to sum up, and we'll see how he pulls up over the next couple of days. I'm sure that'll determine which way we go."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT