How wealth of experience shaped Australias Ashes win
Australia wrapped up the five-match series with dominant victories in the first three matches in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
New Delhi: Greater experience of handling crunch moments facilitated Australia’s Ashes triumph, believes their premier pacer Mitchell Starc.
Australia wrapped up the five-match series with dominant victories in the first three matches in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
On Sunday, they won by 82 runs at the Adelaide Oval to retain the urn and put an end to criticism of the team's advanced age profile that dominated headlines before the series.
Starc said their knowledge of how to navigate setbacks of absences from injuries of skipper Pat Cummins and seamer Josh Hazlewood before the opening game, helped them win the series with two matches to spare.
"(Injuries) certainly didn't change the way that the group approached things heading into Perth. A lot was made about how old the group is and how experienced they are," he said on Monday.
"Perhaps that's played into our hands, with having been through some good times, and some not so good times over the course of our careers together. Things have never gotten too high or low. If we haven't had a good day, it's pretty easy to move on from and learn from.
"For guys that have come in, less experienced or younger, I think that the freedom to express themselves as players but also learn from that experience has been beneficial in the way we've played our cricket."
Starc led the home team’s bowling attack with aplomb, claiming a series-leading 22 wickets in 95.5 overs in the three matches.
‘Focus of Tests helped’
The 35-year-old attributed his hot form to his decision to retire from T20I for an enhanced focus on Tests, which allowed him to perform at his optimum level.
"I've made decisions with my body in mind, test cricket has always been the priority... It's all very individual, and I've had some good people around me in strength and conditioning trainers and the sports science guys. I've got them to thank a lot for that and it's been a lot of time that I've put into my body myself.
"I'm glad that it's going the way it is at the moment. It's probably not always going to be that way, so just enjoying it at the moment."
Australia will look for a series whitewash in the remaining two matches, the penultimate one of which begins on December 26 in Melbourne.