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Starc attacks Australia’s 
‘in-out’ selection policy

Australia paceman Mitchell Starc has shown his frustration over Cricket Australia’s selection policy saying it’s difficult to deliver consistency “when you play one game and you’re dropped”.

Mitchell Starc makes a ‘T’ shape with his arms to indicate he would ask for a TV referral during a net session on Monday. — AP

The left-arm quick has been in and out of the Australian side over the past nine months, and during the current Ashes series in England the pattern has continued.

After starting in the first Test he was left out of the second at Lord’s before returning for the third at Old Trafford, only to be sidelined yet again at Durham.

The treatment has clearly upset the 23-year-old fast bowler, who is the second-highest-paid player on Cricket Australia’s books but has been unable to nail down a permanent place in the Test line-up, Fairfax Media reported on Monday.

“Yeah, I guess it would be nice to get a few games back to back and get that rhythm,” Starc said.

“But to have a chance at that consistency that everyone talks about — ‘you’ve got to be more consistent’ — well, it’s a bit hard when you play one game and you’re dropped.”

Haddin expects Watson to be fit LONDON — Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin is confident all-rounder Shane Watson will be fit for this week’s fifth and final Ashes Test against England at The Oval, he said on Monday. Medium-pacer Watson was forced off the field midway through an over by a groin injury on the third day of the fourth Test at Chester-le-Street. But he did return on the fourth and, as it turned out, final day, only to be dismissed in familiar fashion when he was lbw as Australia collapsed from 147 for one to 224 all out and a 74-run defeat as England took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. However, Watson has since trained well and Haddin told a news conference at The Oval, south London, on Monday: “He’s been bowling today and came through that all right, and he did all the running unassisted which is a good sign. “We’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow (Tuesday) but he’s looking 100 per cent to go,” Australia’s vice-captain added. — AFP

Prominent ex-players and the media have regularly criticised Australia’s contentious use of the player rotation policy, particularly for fast bowlers, designed to guard against them breaking down from too much cricket. Test leg-spin great Shane Warne once said: “When we were number one there weren’t mission statements flying around, but we got the selection process right and the best 11 were selected for every game.”

Starc, who has taken eight wickets in two matches at 27.12 in the Ashes series, said he had to show at training he was ready to return to the team. “So in the end it comes back to getting better off the field and making sure I’m nailing everything and making sure I’m knocking down that door to be in the team,” he said.

“I’m pretty happy with where my reverse swing bowling is and how much I am getting the ball to swing but I guess it’s doing more damage with the new ball and being more consistent when the ball isn’t doing anything at all... so I know where I need to get better and it’s just a matter of doing it.”

Starc hopes to return for the final Test at The Oval on Wednesday having bowled in Australia’s practice match against the England Lions in Northampton while Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were given a break.