Starc had twinged his ribs while batting in Adelaide, while Hazlewood’s fitness is an unknown as he flies into Melbourne on Thursday
Starc was in obvious discomfort while batting in the second innings after an attempted slog-sweep caused a sharp jab of pain in his ribs. But he bowled without issue or complaint in the fourth innings delivering 27 overs and taking the key wickets of Joe Root and Ollie Pope to help Australia claim victory.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Mitch Starc for the last few years but he just keeps turning up. He’s an unbelievable athlete. He’s incredibly fit.”
Justin Langer
“It’s just [Starc’s] rib actually,” Langer said. “A lot of the bowlers talk about when they come back to Test cricket, bowl more overs, they jam down on that rib area so he should be fine. He’s tough.
“If he’s not right, then we’ll look at it. But at this stage, there’s no indication suggesting he won’t be playing the next Test.
“We will wait and see how Josh Hazlewood pulls up, he arrives this afternoon.”
“I honestly thought Mitch Starc was almost the man of the match last game,” Langer said. “There’s been a lot of talk about Mitch Starc for the last few years but he just keeps turning up. He’s an unbelievable athlete. He’s incredibly fit.
“His resilience to just keep coming up over and over and over again is remarkable really, and his consistency of length and the way he controlled the tempo of the game last game was a great credit to him, particularly with Patty and Josh Hazlewood not playing.
“He became the leader of the group. He did a fantastic job. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t get up for Boxing Day.”
Boland’s addition to the squad has raised the prospect of Australia picking another debutant given the Victorian’s record at the MCG. On a surface that has traditionally been incredibly flat and docile through his 10-year first-class career, Boland has taken 96 wickets at 25.56 with four five-wicket hauls. His latest came in his only game there this year on one of the liveliest MCG tracks he had ever bowled on where he claimed match figures of 8 for 89 against New South Wales.
But Langer said Boland’s call-up was mainly as cover given the tight turnaround between Tests.
“It’s more precautionary than anything else,” Langer said. “That said he’s a terrific bowler and he’s had an awesome domestic couple of years. If he gets the opportunity like Michael Neser last game, he will certainly deserve that.”
“Undecided at this stage,” Langer said. “Both Michael and Jhye did a great job in the last Test match. We’ll just wait and see how they pull up.
“It’s a tough series. We all know that. Five Test matches pretty much in a row. So we’ll just manage our bowlers as best we can and we’ll put our fittest and most ready to perform out in the park in Melbourne.”
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo