Pacer Mitchell Starc eyes July comeback

Sydney, Feb 25. Injured Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has set his sights on a return to international cricket during the tour of Sri Lanka in July. The left-armer last played for Australia in the historic Day-Night Test against New Zealand last November before having to leave the field after stress fractures in his landing foot flared up.

"(Progress) is slow but I'm on track. It's nice to be running again, even though it's slow -- it's more of a fast walk," Starc was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Thursday.

"It's nice to be doing things in the gym, it's a silver lining, and it's nice to be able to have a pre-season before I start playing again. Hopefully I'm not too far away, obviously the big one is the Test tour of Sri Lanka -- that's first and foremost, making sure I'm 100 percent ready to go for that one," he added.

The 26-year-old has ruled out a return to the international arena during the World T20 in India next month and also the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"Hopefully I'll start bowling at the back-end of March and they'll have a close eye on me with that sort of stuff so it'll be up to them to give me the green light or not," he said.

Agency