AUS vs SA | Australia need to drop Starc if he doesn’t find his swing back, states Ricky Ponting

Australia’s embarrassing defeat at home to a second-string Indian side has, understandably, left fans and former cricketers disgruntled, and one of the few players who has come under fire has been Mitchell Starc. The left-arm seamer, after starting the series with radiance, waned away with every passing game and eventually was non-existent across the last two Tests, where he finished with combined figures of 3-290. With the Kangaroos scheduled to play three Tests against South Africa next month, Starc is one player who looks almost certain to lose his place.

"But if he can do something to prove to … the coaches around the squad that he's swinging that new ball, in South Africa the ball does move and we know how dangerous he is when the ball does swing.

In the case of Australia dropping Starc, Ponting wants the Kangaroos to field Jhye Richardson, who is currently topping the BBL wicket-takers chart and impressed in his maiden outing in Tests last year before suffering an untimely injury. Though Pattinson might be ahead of Richardson in the pecking order, Ponting believes that the young Western Australian brings to the table a swing-bowling package similar to Starc.

"He's just a quality new-ball bowler," Ponting said of Richardson.

"I still think Pattinson (might be ahead of Richardson in the pecking order). But even then, he's coming off no cricket. He hasn't played any cricket for a long time. At least Jhye is getting some white-ball cricket under his belt and building back up to what looks like just about his best bowling.

"I'd expect both of them to be in the squad and because there's no cricket, it might just be about who's bowling the best in the week leading up to the first Test. And they would go with one of them if Starc is not there (in the XI)."

"I think he'll go and he might even start," the former Aussie skipper said of Wade.

"He looked as good as anyone (against India) nearly every time he walked out there. When you see him play and how desperate he is and how aggressive he is, the way he got out … you think of him as being more of a fighter than that, but a lot of them were quite soft dismissals.

"We know what he can do when he starts to attack and how hard he can hit the ball, but defensively he looked quite good (in his hundred against India)," Ponting said.