MITCHELL Starc receives his man-of-the-tournament award from cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.—AFP

MELBOURNE: Months after being labelled ‘soft’ by one of Australia’s cricket greats and getting dropped from Australia’s Test XI, Mitchell Starc has been deservedly voted the player of the World Cup.

Starc’s worth to the Australian team was never more evident than when he dismissed New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in the first over of Sunday’s final.

Few could have predicted the impact Starc would make at this tournament back in December when the left-arm swing bowler returned figures of 2-110 in the second Test against India in Brisbane, leading Shane Warne to describe Starc’s body language as ‘soft’.

The 25-year-old Starc was subsequently dropped for the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the same venue where on Sunday he was named player of the tournament after using a new-found aggression to snare 22 wickets throughout the World Cup.

“I’ve worked really hard at it for a number of months now with [bowling coach] Craig McDermott in the background,” Starc said. “A few series ago we sat down and found out a little plan and to see that come to fruition has been phenomenal.”

After a tournament notable for batting performances — including two double centuries, and teams regularly passing 300 runs — it was fitting that one of the few bowlers able to consistently make life difficult for the batsmen won the coveted award.

“It was an amazing tournament and some outstanding performances,” Starc said. “New Zealand have been a great team throughout the tournament and even set the benchmark, but I think we came hard in the final and [that] really led to this performance.”

Fast bowling all-rounder James Faulkner, who overcame injury to join the Australia squad partway through the pool stage, was named man-of-the-match with figures of 3-36 — including the key dismissals of Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott.

Faulkner suffered a side strain in training ahead of the World Cup and was given until the third match to prove his fitness.

“The support staff was amazing around me,” said Faulkner. “The selectors and senior members of the group that gave me every bit of confidence that I could get back on the park and contribute come crunch time in this tournament.”

As for Starc, he’s now switching his attention to returning to the Test team for Australia’s tour of the West Indies in June.

“I’ve really enjoyed my white ball cricket, not just this summer but seasons gone past as well,” he said. “I’d like to push into Test cricket now, but we’ve got a bit of a break now before any of the Tests ... [I’m] just going to really enjoy this moment.”

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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