Proud Starc celebrates as brother wins gold

Brandon Starc's days of living in his brother Mitchell's shadows could be over after the star paceman's younger sibling won gold in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games.

With the injured left-arm spearhead watching on, Starc was the only competitor to clear the bar at 2.32 metres at Gold Coast's Carrara Stadium on Wednesday evening.

It was Australia's first high jump gold medal since 1994, with the 24-year-old edging out second-placed Jamal Wilson of the Bahamas and Canadian bronze medallist Django Lovett.

His previous personal best was 2.31m set at the 2015 world championships.

After a long summer in which he played all but two of Australia's Tests against England and South Africa, the elder Starc is currently on the mend from a tibial bone stress reaction in his right leg that recently ruled him out of the Indian Premier League.

Posting a video of his brother's winning jump, he tweeted: "Get in there boy! Gold medal at the Com(m) games! Bloody awesome … super proud young fella."

The younger Starc revealed he'd been forced to "push through" a heel injury in the final, an area that Mitchell has also had issues with in the past.

Asked if he's emerged from his big brother's shadow, Brandon told Channel Seven with a laugh: "I don't know, It's a big shadow to come out of, maybe a bit more than what it was.

"It was surreal really. Just incredible, I have no words.

"I'm going to be in tears (for the medal ceremony). I'm going to love every moment of it."

Starc finished 15th at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which spelt a couple of early wake-up calls for Mitchell as he tuned in from Sri Lanka where Australia were playing a series.

While the 43-Test fast bowler says he 'had a crack' at the high jump during his school, he believes the pair picked the right respective sports.

"I thought if I did any good at it I could get a couple of extra days off school and go to the next level," Starc told News Ltd in 2016.

"I wasn't any good after that. I stopped in Year 12.

"From my brother's perspective, the high jump at the Olympics on the world stage, hopefully winning a medal, that's as good as it gets."

Brandon also competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with Mitchell unable to resist the urge at having a light-hearted dig at him at the time.

"He keeps whinging about copping all of that (about) being 'my brother'," Mitchell told the Sydney Sixers' website.

"But he’s representing Australia at a Commonwealth Games so I'm more than happy to be known as Brandon Starc's brother at the moment."

It's the latest in a series of major recent achievements for the Starc family, with Mitchell's wife Alyssa Healy last month notching her maiden international century during Australia's ODI series against India.