Mitchell Starc recently responded to Stuart Broad‘s comments describing the 2021/22 Ashes as the “void Ashes”, claiming that the Englishman might be making excuses. Broad has now hit back at Starc.
Broad had previously spoken about the troubles of travelling and playing during the pandemic with strict restrictions on the movement of players.
Speaking to Daily Mail, he said: “Nothing was harsher than the last Ashes series. In my mind, I don’t class that as a real Ashes. The definition of Ashes cricket is elite sport with lots of passion and players at the top of their game. Nothing about that series was high level performance because of the Covid restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialise. I’ve written it off as a void series.”
Broad’s comment drew reactions from both camps. Starc, who played a key role in the 4-0 Australia victory in the 2021/22 Ashes series, claimed a few days back that the quarantine regulations at Gold Coast, where the English team trained before the first Test of the 2021-22 series, were some of the most lenient ones he had seen.
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Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Starc said: “The funniest thing out of that was they called it quarantine on the Gold Coast. I did seven of them. That was the easiest by a country mile.
“The Poms had the pool, the gym, they were in a resort on the Gold Coast, they trained at Metricon (now Heritage Bank Stadium), weren’t confined to their rooms and had their families there.
“Was that really quarantine? They were still allowed to play golf on tour. Is that an excuse for 4-0? Dunno. It was a pretty good series to be a part of.”
Broad has now hit back at Starc, saying that Starc never had to travel overseas to play Test matches during the pandemic. The Barmy Army posted Starc’s comments on Instagram two days back (May 25), on which Broad commented: “How many Test matches did Starcy play away from home during Covid? Trying to do the maths on it. Zero wasn’t it?”
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Australia didn’t play a single Test away from home between January 2020-February 2022. After Covid-19 struck, Australia’s first Test match away from home came in March 2022 in Pakistan. By that time, Covid-induced restrictions on movement were starting to ease around the world.
This back-and-forth between Broad and Starc comes with the backdrop of the fast approaching 2023 Ashes series. The first Test will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, starting June 16, and by the looks of how things are going, it could be a heated affair.
Ashes 2023 schedule and full list of fixtures: Here’s the full list of Ashes 2023 fixtures
