Cricket fans hang on the words of Pat Cummins when he speaks. This time he wasn’t talking about tactics or bowling plans. He was showing genuine appreciation for two of his good soldiers, Mitchell Starc and Alex Carey. After another hard-fought Test, Cummins opened up on Starc’s tireless engine and Carey’s quiet brilliance that keeps delivering when it matters most. These weren’t simply a couple of vague compliments, these were insights from the inside, watching guys “putting in a lot of work”. Let’s unpack it.
Starc’s Century of Tests: Still Relentless, Still Red-Hot
Let’s be real – bowling 145 km/h while sprinkling late in a long Test match is ludicrous. Doing it 100 Test matches later? That’s superhuman. Mitchell Starc has recently become a member of the illustrious club of Australian fast bowlers to have played 100 Test matches. He is the second Australian fast bowler, behind Glenn McGrath. This is a remarkable fact given the abuse Test cricket can put on your body; fast bowling in particular.
Cummins didn’t hold back when talking about Starc: “He’s just the warrior… he just keeps going.” No hype, no spotlight—just a player who quietly puts in the work, match after match, and never takes a backward step. In an era obsessed with workload management, Starc’s consistency is rare. With both physical grit and mental steel, he’s not always the loudest name—but his impact hits faster than one of his thunderbolts.
The Carey Effect: Calm, Clutch, and Criminally Underrated
Alex Carey might not always be the voice at the loudest volume in the dressing room, and you might not find him in a highlight clip, but if you ask Cummins or any of the Aussie boys, they’ll tell you that he’s a huge part of this team.
Carey has been in her volunteer Form. After he scored valuable runs last week, he followed it up with a match-winning performance again. But being on a pitch that was giving the ball the tantrum of a toddler, going up and down, jagging sideways, you have to praise his performance. He is a player that you want to be coming in at 7 if things are messy.
What defines Carey more than anything else is his game awareness. He doesn’t just survive hard moments – he shifts gears and takes the game away. Cummins thinks this is a desirable trait: “Any opposition that has a number seven… that can change the game quickly—they are some of the players that are the most frightening.” And Carey fits that bill perfectly.
Backbone of the Team: Why Starc and Carey Matter More Than Stats Show
While the lights often focus on century-makers or five-wicket-takers, it is players like Starc and Carey who quietly put wins together. Starc might strike a cavalier gladiator pose in white clothing, but he also brings a level of calm to fast-bowling chaos. Carey is the glue—a calm player who reads the game like a tactician.
Their dependability and longevity are no fluke. They result from effort, experience, and dispositional competitiveness. Now that the ashes are out of the way and more tours are to come, both will be an essential part of the Australian challenge going forward. Whether it be Starc steaming in with the old one or Carey reaching down to take the catch, these two are the engines of this team: passionate, smart, and competitive.
So here is a thought – in a team of stars do we reflect on the unsung ones who make it possible? Share your thoughts in the comments – and next time you are celebrating a wicket or a fifty, think about those unsung ones.
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