I mean, Starc is a better bowler on almost every level. We're talking a bloke who bowls booming 150km/h inswinging yorkers on cue, against a guy who bowls 135ish and has yet to discover that you can, in fact, pitch the ball in the same half as the batsman. On talent, on ceiling, Starc is miles ahead.
But I'm going Wagner, because he's wrung every drop of talent out of himself and left it about halfway down the pitch. He keeps doing what works for him, whether he's on 7-fer or going at 7s. He keeps running in, no matter what, and he's found a way to be a genuine world class bowler when he probably shouldn't be much more than a solid third seamer.
Starc still feels so unfulfilled -- which seems harsh given that he's got 150+ at 27, calls Australian highways home, and has dragged the average down massively in the past couple of years -- but it's hard for me not to think that a guy with his talents should be doing so much more. Maybe it's the point Spark made in the Ashes thread -- he can't really bowl defensively/in partnerships, so there's an argument that he makes the attack less than the sum of its parts by putting extra pressure on the others.
But I'm going Wagner, because he's wrung every drop of talent out of himself and left it about halfway down the pitch. He keeps doing what works for him, whether he's on 7-fer or going at 7s. He keeps running in, no matter what, and he's found a way to be a genuine world class bowler when he probably shouldn't be much more than a solid third seamer.
Starc still feels so unfulfilled -- which seems harsh given that he's got 150+ at 27, calls Australian highways home, and has dragged the average down massively in the past couple of years -- but it's hard for me not to think that a guy with his talents should be doing so much more. Maybe it's the point Spark made in the Ashes thread -- he can't really bowl defensively/in partnerships, so there's an argument that he makes the attack less than the sum of its parts by putting extra pressure on the others.
