Smith: Batsmen should be scared of Starc

Australia

Australia captain Steve Smith has warned South Africa and West Indies batsmen that paceman Mitchell Starc is back to full fitness and bowling quicker than ever, ahead of their tri-series in the Caribbean.

Starc has been out of action for more than six months, having undergone ankle surgery late last year, but has been terrorising his team's batsmen in the nets. Smith feels that the Proteas and Windies should be afraid… very afraid.

Smith said on the CA website: "It's nice to have Mitchell Starc back bowling the way he is. He's looking fresh and bowling at good pace.

"Hopefully some of the South African and West Indies batsmen are a little bit scared at the moment.

"It's exciting to have him back and hopefully he can have some success straight away, or pick up where he left off.

"The set of skills he brings to the game, he knows what he's doing 100 per cent of the time. He's that banker … it's nice to have him back."

While Starc is returning, the Aussies will be missing the highly influential voice of head coach Darren Lehmann, who is taking a break for a few weeks. The team has been left in the hands of Western Australia coach Justin Langer.

Smith feels the former Australia batsman has been a great addition to the team: "It's going to be a little bit different not having Boof around, but Alf's done a terrific job with Western Australia over the last couple of years.

"It's been a while since I've worked with him. He was the batting coach when I first came into the Australian side and he was a fantastic batting coach and all reports are he's been doing terrific things at WA.

"So I'm looking forward to having a different voice around, something a little different for the guys and I think it's an exciting time for Australian cricket to have someone of Justin's calibre around the group."

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