June 22, 2023 
By India Today Sports Desk: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald admitted that the decision to leave out Mitchell Starc, the team's fastest bowler, for the first Ashes Test was primarily based on the dry and flat conditions at Edgbaston.
McDonald acknowledged that in hindsight, Starc's ability to swing the old ball could have been valuable on a track that offered little assistance to the seamers. Australia secured a two-wicket win over England in the opening Ashes match.
The Australia head coach emphasised that the decision was made based on the conditions and the team's assessment at that time. He stated that the choice of Josh Hazlewood, who returned with figures of 3/109, over Starc was primarily due to line and length considerations rather than left-arm swing.
"It's conditions-based, and I've said that from the get-go," McDonald explained. "We feel as though, looking back on it, potentially Mitch could have played a role, there's no doubt about that.
"But line and length potentially over left-arm swing, and we didn’t feel as though we may have got swinging conditions (at Edgbaston). It's really down to a gut feel at selection, so it can be critiqued any way you want. We felt like when we went into the game, with all the information that we had, we made the best decision."
McDonald acknowledged that the selection could be critiqued, but the team believed they made the best decision based on the available information. He added that Starc understood the team's decision and recognised that he had a significant role to play in the remaining matches of the Ashes series.
McDonald indicated that there would be a high demand on all the fast bowlers to perform throughout the series, and Starc might feature in the next game depending on the conditions. The teams will clash in the second Test from June 28 to July 2 at Lord's.
"We took Starcy on that journey, he understands that and he understands the fact there is four more Test matches and he's got a pivotal part to play within that," McDonald said.
"There's going to be huge demand on all our fast bowlers to get through the five (Ashes) Test matches, plus the World Test Championship. Josh was fit and available, we felt like he was the best on this surface and that might be Mitch next game, who knows?"
July 20, 2024 
