What Olympian brother thinks of Starc’s harshest critics

He took 325 Test wickets at 27.72 into the Ashes finale, and took four more scalps on day one at The Oval, yet as stumps have clattered, balls have found the edge and wholehearted appeals have come up trumps, remarks like Mitchell being “soft” have come in thick and fast.

“I’m a bit biased so I think it’s a bit unfair, but I guess it’s cricket and it’s high performance,” Brandon, who’s three years younger than Mitchell, told Wide World of Sports.

“I guess everyone’s going to cop some criticism in their career regardless.

“I think it’s how he’s handled it (that’s been impressive).

“He’s a pretty world-class athlete and he’s very experienced, so I think he knows how to handle that kind of stuff quite well.

“I know he’s similar to me in that if there was some sort of criticism of me it’s kind of like white noise to a point, where you don’t even hear it or you don’t even really listen to it or read into it too much, regardless of who it was.

Every ball of the Ashes will be live, free and exclusive on 9Now, and if you miss any of the action you can find full highlights and exclusive replays after every day’s play here

“If it was a really, really famous athlete giving me criticism, you know, whatever, you just kind of brush it off and move on, do your own job and let your craft do the talking.”

It might appear the similarities between high jump and fast bowling begin and end at running up.

Brandon, a two-time Olympian, doesn’t think so.

“As a high jumper, let’s say in a comp, you’ve got to really compartmentalise each jump. If you miss a jump you’ve got to let it go really quickly and basically forget about it, because if you’re focusing on that there’s too much going on in your head for the next jump,” Brandon said.

“Similarly to criticism of Mitch, I’m sure he’s very much the same, if he even hears any of it. It’s like, ‘Whatever. Who cares? I’m not going to waste energy on that sort of stuff’.

“And it’s the same with me. I might hear more about it because I’m on the outside of the cricket team, but similarly, I hear it and I see it and then I’m kind of like, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever’.

“I know it’s not really going to affect him, anyway … I don’t think he really reads into it much. Whether he even hears some of it … Some people probably say, ‘Aw, did you hear this?’. But I don’t think he really cares. Whatever … Water off a duck’s back. Let your bowling do the talking.”

Starc destroys stumps on first ball of Ashes

There’s a belief that Warne’s criticism of Mitchell stemmed from a comment he made early in the 2012-13 summer.

Warne, who played his final Test in January 2007, said he was still capable of playing cricket for Australia, which Mitchell slapped down in support of New South Wales teammate Nathan Lyon.

“He’s done his time,” Mitchell said of Warne.

“He’s obviously done a lot of great things for Australian cricket, but he’s done and dusted now, and Nathan Lyon’s the spinner.

“We’re all backing Nathan to do his job, and if Shane Warne wants to come out of retirement and give it a crack, good luck to him.”

When Warne, commentating for Nine, called Mitchell “soft” during Australia’s Test against India at the Gabba in December 2014, it caused a stir, so much so that Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach at the time, said he’d confront his former teammate about it.

Seven years later, Warne may have caused even more controversy following the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes, when Mitchell destroyed the leg stump of England opener Rory Burns with a sizzling delivery that swung around his legs.

“That’s a half-volley on leg stump,” Warne said from the Fox Cricket commentary box.

“It’s a great start from the Aussies and Mitchell Starc, but as an opening batsman you’ve got to be able to hit that.

Every ball of the Ashes will be live, free and exclusive on 9Now, and if you miss any of the action you can find full highlights and exclusive replays after every day’s play here

“You shouldn’t miss that ball, a half-volley as a left-hander.

“I don’t think there’s any swing, is there? There’s no swing!”

Brandon Starc cheered on by Mitchell Starc, Aussie teammates

Warne had been questioning Mitchell’s selection in the lead-up to the 2021-22 Ashes, calling for the towering fast bowler to be axed in favour of Western Australian speedster Jhye Richardson.

“Whether it’s from Warnie or anyone else, I think he has copped a fair bit in his career,” Brandon said with a laugh when asked about Warne’s commentary of the Burns wicket.

“But at the same time, it’s like, whatever, it’s just another comment.”

Brandon and Mitchell are tight.

While Brandon wasn’t Mitchell’s best man for his wedding with fellow Australian cricket star Alyssa Healy, Mitchell was his.

They also message each other almost daily, and keep close eyes on how one another are going with their respective sports.

In the same year that Mitchell made his international debut, in a one-dayer against India in 2010, Brandon contested the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

And by the time Brandon made his international debut, at the 2013 world championships in Moscow, Mitchell had taken 90 international wickets.

“He always told me to back yourself and have belief when I was a bit younger,” Brandon said.

“He’s been at the top of cricket since he was 18 or 19 or something, so he was always that kind of inspiration, aspiration, motivation, and I’ve seen firsthand that hard work has got him to where he’s at.

“It’s been awesome having him do what he does.”

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