Starc choice to learn county game and lift Yorkshire (From York Press)

Starc choice to learn county game and lift Yorkshire

11:28am Wednesday 2nd May 2012 in Yorkshire County Cricket Club By Graham Hardcastle

Mitchell Starc has revealed he turned his back on a possible deal at the Indian Premier League to come and join Yorkshire.

The Australian fast bowler will begin an initial five-week spell as the county’s overseas player this weekend after spending seven weeks with the Australian national squad on tour in the Caribbean.

He played the last Test of a three-match series at Dominica last week, but it was his only competitive outing since the start of March when he played for New South Wales against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield.

“I was looking at a few options for our winter. There’s IPL and all those sorts of things, which I was in the auction for,” explained the 22-year-old left-arm quick.

“I decided against it in the end because I thought the best thing for my game would be to go and develop in county cricket and play the longer forms of the game. With the Ashes coming up, it’s a good chance for me to get some cricket in England.

“If I can help contribute to the lads there at Yorkshire and help get them back up into the first division, where they probably should be, I’ll be very happy.

“I’m very excited. I haven’t been to the UK before, so I’m looking forward to getting over and taking on another challenge of adapting to the conditions.”

Starc is currently shaking off the effects of jet-lag in Sydney after an unenviable 56-hour journey home.

He lands in England on Saturday, and is set for his debut in next week’s LV= County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol after receiving the necessary No Objection Certificate from Cricket Australia.

“It’s been a long trip home,” he chuckled. “It was Dominica to Barbados, Barbados to Miami, Miami to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to Sydney. There were a couple of delays in there too, but these things happen.”

Starc, who got Sachin Tendulkar out twice in the most recent Australian summer, is likely to play in four Championship and four 40-over matches during his stay at Headingley.

That could be extended, although Australia have a one-day tour of the UK between June 21 and July 10.

“I’m only there for five weeks, so I’ll see how I go for the first few and take it from there,” he added.

“There’s an opportunity there to play Twenty20.

“I’d love to play as much cricket as I can because I haven’t had the opportunity to play too much in the last few months.”

Yorkshire face Leicestershire at Scarborough in the Championship, starting today.