|| Desk Report ||

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc may find himself out of the playing XI of the first Ashes starting on August 1 as per the comments of Australia's Test captain Tim Paine.

The Aussie captain believes Starc needs some time to get used to the line and length of the red ball cricket. James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood are more in the rhythm with the red ball than Starc. 

"We know what Starcy can do when he is on fire and on song like we saw in some of the World Cup games, he can get any batter out in the world. He's coming off a lot of white-ball cricket, so Starcy takes a little bit of time to adjust back up with his lengths and stuff, but he'll be working hard next week again, and when he's on song he will be playing a huge role in these Ashes," Paine said ESPN Cricinfo.    

"It was a different wicket but the really accurate bowlers were a real handful, whether they were bowling at James Pattinson speed or Peter Siddle speed the guys that hit the correct length on that wicket were an absolute handful. It's going to be no different, we need guys that can adjust to different conditions really quickly and bowl the appropriate length on different surfaces," Paine added. 

Starc played his last Test against Sri Lanka in February 2019. He has been phenomenal in the World Cup. He took 27 wickets in 10 matches in the recently finished World Cup, which is the highest number of wickets taken by any bowler in the World Cup.