Are Boult and Starc ODI cricket greats?

Every now and again, the game sees players who dominate a discipline in ways that others cannot. Sachin Tendulkar’s 23-year run with the bat in One-Day Internationals is unmatched. Sachin Tendulkar amassed 18,426 runs in 452 innings at an average of 44.83. He is an ODI great. The past 12 years have seen the rise of two of the format’s best bowlers, Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc. The duo raises a valid argument regarding them being recognized as ODI greats.

Trent Boult

Trent Boult did not play ODI cricket for exactly 11 months for semi-retirement reasons. When he returned, it was as if he had never left. The New Zealand left-arm seamer needed seven deliveries to take his first wicket. After 14 balls, Boult had conceded one run and accounted for the wickets of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes. On his ODI debut, it took him eight balls to claim his debut wicket. Nothing has changed since then. Trent Boult does, he takes early wickets and sets his team up for success.

Since his debut, Boult has bagged 87 wickets, in the first 10 overs. This is the most by any bowler in the powerplay in the same period. Boult has also done this while conceding the fewest runs among bowlers who have played 100 or more ODIs. Boult has been going at a miserly 4.15 runs per over.

Generally, once bowlers develop a reputation for taking early wickets, batters change their approach towards them. Instead of attacking their deliveries and therefore offering chances, they choose to see out the spells of these wicket-taking bowlers. Trent Boult appears immune to that ploy. He has continued to take powerplay wickets. Between 2019 and 2023, Boult has taken 33 powerplay wickets at a rate of 3.79 runs an over.

But, Boult is more than just an exponent of the new ball. When you zoom out and compare him with his peers beyond the first 10 overs, Boult’s record also stands out. He has the second-most and joint-second-most five and four-wicket hauls in ODIs. Only Mitchell Starc has taken more ODI wickets (221) since Boult’s debut, while Southee, the next-highest New Zealand wicket-taker, is a full 73 wickets behind Boult who has 197 ODI scalps.

Among the top 10 wicket-takers since 2012, only Jason Holder has bowled more dot balls than Boult. Starc, Holder, Mohammad Shami and Chris Woakes are the only four other pace bowlers who have taken more than 150 wickets since Boult’s debut. Among these five bowlers, only Starc has the lowest average and strike rate than Boult.

Mitch Starc

For the umpteenth time in that match, Mitchell Starc’s length delivery was on the off-stump line. Up until then, Ryan Burl had been playing Starc’s deliveries patiently, but this time he punched it down the ground on the up, for Cameron Green to take a comfortable catch. That was Starc’s 200th wicket.

In 2022 Starc became the quickest-ever bowler to 200 one-day international wickets, eclipsing a 23-year benchmark set by off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq. Mushtaq did it in 104 innings. Starc needed two less innings, he did it in 102. That wicket made the case for Starc to be considered the greatest white ball bowler Australia has ever had. He had taken the fewest matches reaching the double-century compared to his predecessors; Brett Lee (who took 112 ODIs), Shane Warne (125), Mitchell Johnson (129) and Glenn McGrath (133).

On March 19 2023, Starc made a case for him to be considered as one of the greatest ODI bowlers ever. On the day, Starc bagged his ninth five-wicket haul in one-day internationals. Taking five or more wickets in ODIs is no easy feat. A bowler has to strike once every 12 deliveries.

Since his debut, Starc has bowled fast, swung the ball and attacked the stumps. The approach has left him with the best strike rate among bowlers from full member countries with 100 wickets or more in the history of ODI cricket.

Waqar Younis and Muttiah Muralitharan are the only men with more five-wicket hauls to their names, and they played way more matches to get there. Younis needed 258 innings for his 13 five-fors, while Muralitharan required 341 for his 10. Starc has played 111 for his nine. He now has as many five-wicket hauls as Brett Lee and Shahid Afridi, who reached the milestone after 217 and 372 innings.

Comparing players from different eras can be problematic. The playing conditions Waqar Younis played under are not the same as the ones Starc has played under. Yet, even under this new context, Starc still stands out. When compared to his peers, players who have been playing since 20 October 2010, Starc’s debut, the Australian stands head and shoulders above everyone.

No player has taken more five-wicket hauls than Starc. Even if you expand the parameters to include four-wicket hauls, Starc has taken four or more wickets 23 times and the next-best player is Trent Boult with 16. His strike rate is unmatched by anyone among all bowlers who have played 100 or more matches since 2010.

The question of their greatest is really just in the amount of matches they’ve played. Both have had two fantastic World Cups and incredible careers. Starc was the best white ball bowler during his career at times, and Boult is the king of the powerplay.

But Starc has 111 ODIs, and Boult 104. Glenn McGrath played more than them combined. Modern cricketers don’t play as many ODIs, and really, even decent performances at this World Cup should cement their cases. But they might have already proved it. After all, Joel Garner only played 98 matches, and old heads still rate him as the best ODI seamer over.

It is highly likely that 2023 will be the last year both of these men will feature at an ODI World Cup. Boult already relinquished his rights to a New Zealand central contract in favour of plying his trade in T20 leagues around the world. Mitchell Starc will be 36 when the 2027 edition comes around. This is their last dance, will the next generation of seamers even play 100 ODIs?

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