Josh Kempton: Mitchell Starc’s legendary Ashes erase any doubt over his place in Australian cricket’s pantheon

As it turned out, one of the fiercest battles of the Ashes turned out to be which Australian would claim the Compton-Miller Medal as the player of the series. Travis Head would have been a worthy winner. The cult hero produced the most memorable performance of the series by belting a match-winning hundred in Perth and backed up with centuries in his hometown of Adelaide and at the SCG in a 629-run campaign which has surely seen him go from makeshift opener to a permanent solution at the top of the order. But only one player could claim the award, and it simply had to be Mitchell Starc on the back of a summer where the left-armer has erased any doubt over his status as a legend of the game. Starc’s haul of 31 wickets is the most in an Ashes series since Mitchell Johnson blew England away with 37 in 2013/14’s whitewash. Comparisons between two brilliant left-armers operating at express pace are easy to draw but the manner in which they terrorised the tourists was markedly different. Johnson weaponised his pace and made an art form of the ability to intimidate the top order and tail alike with the short ball. Starc has certainly held his own in that department, almost never dropping below 140km/h as he sent down just shy of 1000 deliveries. But the defining characteristic of Starc’s Ashes was his supreme skill. Through sheer hard work, he has erased an unfortunate knack of releasing pressure with a wayward over here or spell there from his game. Starc has always been the attacking spearhead of Australia’s bowling attack but having Pat Cummins at his side for only one game and Josh Hazlewood not featuring at all thrust him into a new role as its leader. He handled the change impeccably, in no small part thanks to his mastery of the ‘wobble seam’ delivery he adapted from his great mates in another example of his relentless drive for self-improvement. In the middle stages of his career, Starc eschewed what would have been several multi-million dollar pay-days in the IPL to ensure he was primed to perform for his country. He will not feature in the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup after retiring from the format internationally in the hopes of extending his Test career. A signature series which will live long in the memory is just reward for those sacrifices. When the 35-year-old calls time on his career — and that may still be several years away with how he is performing — he will have well and truly earned his place in the pantheon of Australian cricket’s greats.