Australian pacesetter Mitchell Stark had two separate injury concerns on day two of the fourth Ashes Test against England at Old Trafford.
On the second day of the Manchester test, when England were dominant, Mitchell Stark suffered from his shoulder and leg. Stark was one of the few brilliant players, first achieving 36* with the bat, and he won half of all England wickets that day.
Stark felt discomfort in his left leg several times, both while bowling and after border jumping. The left-arm pacer injured his shoulder while fielding later in the day, but was able to leave the field despite initially looking unwell after his fall.
He then conceded an over but failed to throw the ball over the line and left the field.
Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori has given a positive update on Stark’s condition, predicting the 33-year-old will bowl again on day three.
“My leg is fine, no problems,” said Vettori. “I think we’ve seen what happened on the field. At the moment he’s having a bit of a problem, but we’re pretty confident tomorrow will be fine.”
“He’s one of those players who doesn’t like to be out of the park for too long, so I wanted to get out on the field as soon as possible to see what was going on. But suddenly he was in a critical situation, and he was hit by three balls in a row, and he wasn’t throwing very well.”
The pair scored 206 runs on just 178 balls for a run rate of 6.74. This is his best record of 200 runs in a ball counting game. Australia managed to knock out both batters back-to-back, but England finished the game with a 384/4 67-point lead in the Stamps.
