Australia’s fiery paceman Mitchell Starc has won everything in his life. From the ICC ODI Cricket World Cups to T20I World Cup and World Test Championship (WTC), Starc has everything as a player alongside the honour of being one of the world’s greatest pacers across the formats.
Starc is currently playing in the two-match Test series in Australia and on the occasion of his 35th birthday on January 30, he achieved a couple of memorable records. Mitchell Starc made his own birthday special by achieving a major milestone in international cricket.
Mitchell Starc joins the elite 700-wicket club on his 35th birthday in the Galle Test
In the two-match Test series opener in Galle, the Australian cricket team declared their first innings at 654 runs for the loss of 6 wickets with a double ton and two centuries scored by the touring side. Usman Khawaja made 232 runs while the debutant Josh Inglis and Steve Smith notched up stunning hundreds against Sri Lanka.
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Travis Head also managed to score a fifty in Galle. On the other hand, Sri Lanka had a poor start, losing 2 wickets for just 15 runs, with one of those wickets being taken by Mitchell Starc. In the fifth over, the Australian pacer bowled a short ball outside off, and Dimuth Karunaratne attempted to play it on the rise, edging it to gully.
Nathan McSweeney, the substitute fielder, initially missed the catch but took it on the second attempt after diving forward, and Dimuth Karunaratne had to walk out after facing only 13 balls for just 7 runs. With this wicket, Starc scripted his name into the record books.
Mitchell Starc becomes fourth Australian to take 700 wickets in international cricket
With this wicket on his birthday, the 35-year-old completed 700 wickets in international cricket and became the 11th cricketer to do so. Starc also became the fourth Australian cricketer, after Shane Warne (1001), Glenn McGrath (949), and Brett Lee (718), to take 700 international wickets.
The Sydney-born cricketer is also the 6th fastest player to reach this huge milestone, taking 373 innings. Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan remains the fastest bowler to complete 700 international scalps in just 308 international innings.
Additionally, Starc has joined the Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan as the second active cricketer to achieve 700 wickets across the formats in international cricket. Among current Indian cricketers, Ravindra Jadeja is the closest, with 597 international wickets to his name.
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Mitchell Starc’s career in numbers
Notably, Starc has now 376 wickets in Tests, 244 in ODIs, and 79 in T20Is to his name. The Australian speedster also holds the record for the fastest bowler to take 150 wickets in ODI cricket. Starc achieved the feat in just 77 ODI matches. Starc also has a unique record to his name of bowling the fifth-fastest ball in international cricket.
He clocked 160.4 km/h against New Zealand during a Test match at Perth in 2015. On the other hand, since Starc made his debut, no bowler has dismissed more players by the ‘bowled’ mode than him, with a total of 210 wickets. Ravichandran Ashwin is in the second spot with 151 ‘bowled’ dismissals.