Starc bullish ahead of return to cricket

It's been 83 days since Mitchell Starc last stood at the top of his mark and stared down an international batsman, but the paceman is confident there won't be any rust in his return from injury on Monday.

While not an official one-day international, Australia's Champions Trophy warm-up match against Pakistan at Edgbaston will be Starc's first game of cricket since the second Test against India in early March, when he suffered a foot injury and returned home.

Starc was understandably rusty early in his comeback from a far more serious foot injury last year; the game against the West Indies in Guyana last June came after an absence of 189 days and his time out of the game showed in an wayward three-over opening spell that featured three wides, three boundaries, a no ball and a wicket.

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His form gradually improved over the course of that match and that series before he produced a record-breaking performance on Australia's otherwise forgettable Test tour of Sri Lanka last July and August.

The left-armer had flagged his uncertainty about his performance heading into that tour of the Caribbean given how long he'd been out of the game, but he's confident there won't be a repeat of that this week in Birmingham, where Australia will begin their tournament against New Zealand on Friday.

"The last lay-off was seven months, but this one was only about six weeks," said Starc, who returned to the bowling crease at training in Brisbane a month ago.

"So even coming back into the nets, it didn't feel like it took too long to get some good rhythm back. So hopefully it's not like last time with such a big lay-off.

"I'm pretty confident with how it's going, it's feeling good in the nets and with the few centre wickets we've had.

"It's been a while (since my last match). I've had plenty of time in the nets and up in Brisbane, but it'll be nice to get out in the middle and bowl some overs in match-like conditions."

Starc will return to Australia's side to face Pakistan having been rested for their first warm-up game against Sri Lanka last Friday, while skipper Steve Smith and paceman John Hastings are also set to play having missed the first match of the tour.

James Pattinson had a lengthy bowling session in the nets on Sunday indicating he might be one of the players to make way, although the match's unofficial status means the Aussies have the option of playing as many members of their 15-man squad as they want.

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The Victorian's chances of earning an ODI recall during the tournament took a blow against Sri Lanka, when he was hit for 80 runs from his 10 overs, including 14 boundaries.

While Australia would be taking a big gamble by playing all of their Big Four quicks - Starc, Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins - in the same side, Starc is simply excited that the injury-prone quartet are all fit and firing at the same time.

"We're looking forward to hopefully playing a few games together if the four of us get picked," he said.

"But it's great to have the four of us fit. Even if there's only three of us playing, we've got one on the side ready to go.

"We've all performed for Australia before and we're looking forward in this tournament to performing again.

"We've obviously come through the ranks together, we've played a lot together and against each other in the under-age stuff and heading into to domestic cricket. But we haven't all been on the park at the same time for Australia. So I think it's exciting for the four of us.

"We're all a similar age and it's been fantastic so far to tour together for the last week-and-a-half."

New Zealand, Australia's first Champions Trophy opponents, had a shaky start to their tour on Sunday with a heavy warm-up defeat to India in London.

The Black Caps were bowled out for just 189 inside 40 overs at The Oval and India were cruising at 3-129 in reply before rain stopped play, with the Indians handed a 45-run win on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

Squads: Every Champions Trophy squad named so far

Group A: Australia, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh.

Group B: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Schedule

Warm-up matches

26 May – Australia v Sri Lanka, The Oval

27 May – Bangladesh v Pakistan, Edgbaston

28 May – India v New Zealand, The Oval

29 May – Australia v Pakistan, Edgbaston

30 May – New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Edgbaston

30 May – Bangladesh vs India, The Oval

Tournament

1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (Day)

2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (D)

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)