Follow UsOnly six Tests old, Todd Murphy is still taking baby steps on the international circuit, but the way he has gone about his business doesn't show any shades of inexperience. Pretty certain with his approach and full focus on efficacy, Murphy has seemingly filled the void left by Nathan Lyon, who had been ruled out of the Ashes due to a shoulder injury incurred during the first Test.
In the fifth and final Test of the Ashes 2023, he dismissed Moeen Ali, giving a peek at England's lower order. By getting the better of Mark Wood, the spinner ensured that England were bundled out for a sub-300 total. Mitchell Starc is very impressed with the way he has delivered and stated that he will be extremely good for the Aussies in the upcoming matches.
"Since he started in his Test career he's been really good for us, through India. He didn't play a heap of a role at Headingley - [he was] used pretty sparingly there - but he's come back and played a job today. He's going to learn from those experiences, his first Ashes tour on the back of his first Indian tour,” Starc said at the end of the day press conference.
"Obviously coming in and trying to fill Nathan's boots is a big deal as it is. Nathan has obviously bowled quite well here in the past; did in the Test final. Todd's gone off the back of that and bowled some really good overs today with a couple of crucial wickets. We'll look for him to play another part in the second innings.”
Mitchell Starc was at the top of his form with the ball and secured figures of 4/82 to dismantle the home side. His delivery to Ben Stokes, which swung away from the left-hander and rattled the off-stump, was a thing of beauty - something that satisfied the New South Welshman. After all, the English skipper has the ability to change the course of the match single-handedly.
"It swung a little bit and hit the top of off. You probably wouldn't put him (in the same category) as many others," Starc said of Stokes.
"We've seen that this series and the way he played at Lord's was next level. The way he's played throughout the series with the tail, I think we were pretty happy to get the tail out there (batting with) the tail today. He's just able to find different places in the field to hit the ball. There have been times where we've been all on the boundary and he clears the rope.
"We know he's a class act … For us to get him in there early when the wicket is doing a bit – the wicket and the overheads helped our case. Time and time again, he's (shown he is) a class performer."
Despite Australian medical staff finding out that Starc had a significant injury to his acromioclavicular (AC) joint after an awkward fall during the Headingley Test, the pacer refused to undergo a scan ahead of the fifth Test and decided to postpone the check-up until the end of the series. He admitted that even though there was some pain, he was ready to bowl, as he had been doing for the better part of the last decade.
"I’m not interested in getting it scanned or anything like that. That (damage to the AC joint) is what the doc and physio think’s the case. We’ll worry about that at the end of the week. There’s a bit of discomfort there … Nothing major. I can still bowl and do what I need to do.
"I’ve played for over 10 years and been through a few niggles and injuries through the time. There have been times when I’ve left the team a man down, or other people have. We all push through niggles and whatnot so it’s no different this week, just a little bit of discomfort,” the pacer added.