Mitchell Starc set to make a comeback from injury

What's the story?

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc is set to return after he was sidelined for almost four months due to a recurrence of a foot injury he suffered during Australia's Champions Trophy campaign earlier this year.

The New South Welshman confirmed that he will play in the JLT One-Day Cup and is also hopeful of playing the first two Sheffield Shield games. Starc also admitted that he was rushed back too early by the Australian selectors in the past and now, he is ready and raring to go.

"Barring any hiccups, I'll be taking part in the JLT Cup and hopefully those first couple of Shield games as well. I think that's a great lead-up for all the guys who are around the Test set-up, the guys who are looking to try and get in that team and some of us coming back from injury. It's first-class cricket hopefully on some Test venues," Starc said.

"It's probably a better lead-in than most of the last few summers where we've had one Shield game, two at tops. The last few times I've been injured I've been rushed back too early for tournaments. The same thing happened in the Champions Trophy, so to have a nice even lead-in to this summer has been good. It has been a silver lining to spend a lot of time in the gym and not rush back into bowling and make sure I haven't got any niggles leading into a very important summer," Starc added.

In case you didn't know...

Mitchell Starc suffered a foot injury when he was playing for Australia against New Zealand in the first ever day-night Test match in 2015. He was forced to miss nearly seven months due to the injury and made a comeback in June last year.

He remained fit for the next few months before the injury occurred again during Australia's tour of India (Test series) in March this year. He missed the IPL and was fit in time for the 2017 Champions Trophy, where the injury came back to haunt him and the quick has been out since then.

He was forced to miss Australia's tour of Bangladesh and India (limited overs series) due to the injury.

Details

The Australian team management has been trying their best to manage the workload of their pacers ahead of the Ashes later this year. Apart from Mitchell Starc, the likes of James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who was sent back home midway through the India tour, are either recovering from injuries or being rested in order to be fresh for the battle against England.

What's next?

Starc is set to be back in action for New South Wales' JLT Cup match against South Australia later this week. He is also expected to play few more games and get himself ready for the five-match Test series against England, The Ashes, that begins on November 23.

Author's Take

What happened to Starc was unfortunate as a pacer like him was forced to be on the sidelines for more time than expected due to the board's desire to rush him back for all the big series.

With Ashes coming up, it is good to see all the Australian pacers getting some much-needed break from the sport, something that stops them from getting burned out.