ABU DHABI: A well-grassed wicket might have been the last thing Mitchell Starc expected to see after landing in Abu Dhabi but Australia’s pace spearhead was loath to get his hopes up ahead of the second Test against Pakistan.

The left-armer was made to toil on a typically lifeless pitch in the drawn first Test in Dubai, grabbing only a solitary wicket while conceding 108 runs for more than 40 overs’ work in broiling heat.

So it would have been understandable had he hoped some relief was at hand when a green-top was revealed after the covers were pulled off at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Instead, Starc felt it all just a desert mirage.

“It might be completely different tomorrow when they cut the grass off,” Starc said. “If we were playing on it today, the fast bowlers would be pretty happy with the covering of grass. A lot of us expect that grass to be gone by tomorrow and probably even less come game day.” There was some talk of resting Starc for the second Test to preserve him for the four-match series against India in the home summer after he bowled a heavy load in the first innings in Dubai.

Starc was in no mood to rest up, though.

“Hope not,” he said. “I don’t know what the team is going to be like but I won’t be putting my hand up for a rest.

“I’m feeling pretty good, it’s only my first game back for a while as well so I’m feeling pretty fresh and pretty happy with how the ball’s coming out.”

A strike bowler more used to crashing through in short, sharp spells rather than wearing batsmen down with sustained pressure, Starc said he had learned to tone down his natural aggression in the United Arab Emirates.

While one wicket in Dubai was small beer compared to his usual hauls in the southern hemisphere, Starc embraced the ‘workhorse’ role more associated with pace partner Peter Siddle and kept the run rate stingy.

Should the pitch retain its grass, Starc and Siddle could be joined by a debutant paceman in Michael Neser or Brendan Doggett.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018