Mitchell Starc will not forget his first day as an Australian Test cricketer yesterday, as he got his baggy green cap from legend Richie Benaud and took two New Zealand wickets at the Gabba.
The Black Caps needed an unbroken 80-run stand between former skipper Daniel Vettori and Dean Brownlie to rescue a shaky start and have their team 176-for-five at the end of an opening day cut short by rain.
Starc, the 21-year-old New South Wales left-armer, one of three Australians on their debut, claimed the scalps of dashing opener Brendon McCullum and hit-or-miss Jesse Ryder to have the Kiwis 96 for five shortly after lunch.
However, Starc, who along with James Pattinson is part of Australia’s most inexperienced pace attack for nearly three decades, stepped up to the challenge to finish his first day in Test cricket two-for-52 off 13 overs.
“It is a day I’ll never forget. Just to get that baggy green [cap] is a pretty proud moment for me and to get a couple of wickets as well is fantastic,” Starc said.
Starc, who took up bowling six years ago after starting as a fledgling wicketkeeper, was swooning to receive his first baggy green cap from former Test skipper and iconic broadcaster Benaud on the field before play started.
“It was a special moment for me and I won’t forget that moment for the rest of my life,” Starc said. “He [Benaud] just said a few things that over the last few years he’s been watching me and I actually sat on a plane on the way home with him after an ODI [one-day international] I played here last year. It wasn’t a big conversation [with Benaud], but a few little things were said there.”
In an age of in-your-face aggressive fast bowlers, Starc is an exception, saying he wants his performances to do his talking.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS