Stumps & Bumps: Starc, Cena and living up to expectations

The knives were out for the Australian cricket team after a shock loss to Bangladesh in Darwin, with heavy criticism of the batting lineup and the selectors from commentators and past players.

After an enthralling first Test there were expectations that the visitors would deliver another competitive outing in Mackay, but it was Mitchell Starc who demolished the Bangladesh top order and delivered the Aussies a victory by an innings and 51 runs inside two days.

Ignoring the noise caused by Australia's nine wicket loss in the Top End, Starc took 6/12 as he ripped through Bangladesh who were dismissed for 64 runs on day one. He was equally devastating in the second innings with figures of 4/39 giving him a match tally of ten wickets for the fourth time in his career.

It's his ability to stay focused and tune out distractions that make Starc someone that the team can rely on, according to SEN Cricket's Bharat Sundaresan on Stumps and Bumps.

"Go back to last year, all this hype around 'Bazball' and England finally with the kryptonite to challenge Australia and defeat them on home soil. What happens with the first over of the series? He gets rid of Zak Crawley. He carried the Australian team on his shoulders, like John Cena did so often for the WWE."

The parallels between Starc and the 17 time WWE Champion lie in their reliability to be able to live up to expectations and deliver results consistently.

"John Cena was the franchise of the WWE at a time when they just lost The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and all these mainstream names. Starc came into the Aussie side when we'd just seen the retirements of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, and the like - and like Cena he's been through the lows to get to the highs of the present day."

From his debut in the WWE in 2002 to his retirement last December, John Cena has had 17 'WrestleMania' appearances appearing in the main event six times with his first in 2006 and his final one in 2025.

"No one really remembers John Cena's early WrestleMania main events. Do you think of his matches with Triple H or The Miz in 2011 - no you think of him versus Undertaker in 2018 or against Cody Rhodes last year" said Stumps and Bumps co-host Nims Azoor.

"Same with Starc. In 2016 the Aussies lost the series 3-0 against Sri Lanka but Starc dismissed Dimuth Karunaratne first ball of the second Test - the first time he did that. But we still think of him demolishing Rory Burns in Brisbane during the Ashes in 2021."

Listen to the latest episode of Stumps & Bumps: