Mitchell Starc hung his boots from T20I cricket, leaving a hole to fill in for Australia as they prepare for the T20 World Cup 2026.
For years, the trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have been the pace mainstays across the three formats for Australia. They have rattled batting attacks for fun and are called the Big Three for Australia. But the trio has been separated now after Starc’s retirement.
Starc ended as the leading-wicket-taking pacer for Australia in T20Is with 79 scalps in 65 innings. He is the second leading wicket-taker for them overall, with only Adam Zampa ahead of him with 131 scalps.
Starc and Josh Hazlewood are two players who had not lost a major trophy final until the World Test Championship final. Barring the WTC final, Starc has won each of the major trophy finals, including the CLT20, IPL, ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and WTC 2023.
A match-winner of his calibre has not bid adieu to the shortest format, and the Aussies are looking for options to fill his boots. They have a couple of players who can take the pace attack forward with Cummins and Hazlewood.
Spencer Johnson blow
Spencer Johnson was considered the frontrunner to replace Starc in T20Is as he also bowls the same way as the tall pacer does. He bowls 145kph left-arm thunderbolts. But the Aussies have been hit with an injury blow to Johnson, who was diagnosed with bone stress in his back.
He is unlikely to feature in competitive cricket until the Big Bash League in December, and that would hurt Australia in their build-up and team combination.
Nathan Ellis a right-handed star for Australia
While Johnson is not able to get game time, Nathan Ellis is a star who has been doing well for Australia in recent times. He has played in 27 T20Is till now and has scalped 41 wickets at an average of 18.8 and an economy of 7.84, which isn’t too bad considering how teams like India and England play these days.
Australia will hope that Ellis fires with Hazlewood and Johnson, and Cummins join back quickly to make this pace attack a strong one. For now, they have Hazlewood, Ellis, Ben Dwarshuis, Sean Abbott and Xavier Bartlett, all of who are capalble of doing the damage as Australia look to build in the post Starc era with India waiting ahead.