London [UK], June 13 : Australian head coach Andrew McDonald backed Mitchell Starc ahead of the Ashes series starting from June 16 at Edgbaston and said that his wicket-taking brings balance to the side.
"He has got a huge tour ahead of him and will play a huge role for us. The English side sets up slightly different as well. There are a few more left-handers. The wicket is going to be a bit different. I'm really happy with where Starcy is," the Australian coach said.
"Mitch went at a bit more than that and (what) he generally goes at but they (Scott Boland) complement each other really, really well. His wicket-taking ability is second-to-none. We've got to weigh all that up when we make decisions," McDonald said, according to cricket.com.au.
Selectors have to make some difficult decisions this week when they choose the final 11 of their bowling attack for Ashes Test.
Scott Boland, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood will compete for remaining slots with captain Pat Cummins an automatic selection.
Boland has never been selected in an Australian full-strength attack when the complete speed cartel is available, but he shined in the WTC Final and currently has 33 Test wickets at an average of 14.57.
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
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