Healy jabs critics again as Warne slams 'atrocious' Starc

Alyssa Healy has sent down a second jab at critics of husband Mitchell Starc as the Australian paceman faces more barbs from Shane Warne.

Starc struggled at times in the first Test defeat to India in Adelaide, most notably when he was handed the second new ball.

A host of retired cricketers shared their thoughts on the left-armer, with Mitchell Johnson notably calling out Starc’s poor body language.

But he ended up with five wickets for the match and captain Tim Paine said Australia never considered dropping Starc.

“I don’t think there was any,” Paine said on Thursday.

“Starcy has been good for us. The criticism he’s come under this week has been pretty unfair. His best and his worst are getting closer together and I think we’re getting closer to his best again.

“When he cops criticism he takes it pretty personally and sometimes that brings the best out of him.”

Healy, the Australian women’s wicketkeeper, swiped Johnson on Tuesday and sent another reminder on Thursday.

The star batter uploaded a screenshot of an article highlighting Starc’s achievements with the ball:

Regardless of how many Test wickets he has next to his name, Warne believes Starc’s struggles are real.

The spin legend even questioned whether Paine’s assurances should hold.

“I have always heaped praise on our bowlers, because I believe we have one of the best attacks in the world, but Mitchell Starc’s performance with the second new ball in both innings was really poor,” he wrote for News Corp.

“He is under pressure to hold his spot if he bowls in Perth like he did in Adelaide, I don’t believe Mitchell Starc has found his rhythm yet at all.

“So why on earth was he not playing Shield games, or grade cricket, or any cricket leading up to the Test to get that rhythm?

“I’m not saying Mitchell Starc cost us the game. But if you are doing CSI-style, forensic analysis over the match and look for where it went wrong, you’d look at his effort with the second new ball in both innings.

“It was atrocious, the worst I’ve ever seen Starc with the second new ball.”

The ongoing conversation comes as England great Michael Vaughan predicts a fast and bouncy Perth Stadium wicket could backfire on Australia.

A green-tinged pitch will be unveiled for the maiden Test at the new stadium, with fast bowlers from both sides licking their lips at the prospect of weaving their magic.

Australia’s pace attack was rated better than India’s heading into the series, but India seem to have the edge in that department.

Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami all performed strongly in Adelaide, and loom as key figures in the second Test.

“I do think it’s a pretty big risk that Australia are taking,” Vaughan said.

“They clearly need a pitch they feel they can get at the Indian batsmen.

“But from seeing the Indian attack at Adelaide Oval, I would think Bumrah, Shami and Sharma will be going to bed tonight thinking, ‘Thank you, we’ll out bowl them on this one’.”

with agencies