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          Starc's return, Narine's ripping offbreak

          He's back: Mitchell Starc struck in the first over on his return to international cricket AFP
          • Daniel Brettig, Assistant editor, ESPNcricinfo
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              Assistant editor Daniel Brettig had been a journalist for eight years when he joined ESPNcricinfo, but his fascination with cricket dates back to the early 1990s, when his dad helped him sneak into the family lounge room to watch the end of day-night World Series matches well past bedtime. Unapologetically passionate about indie music and the South Australian Redbacks, Daniel's chief cricketing achievement was to dismiss Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth in the 2010 Ashes press match in Perth - a rare Australian victory that summer.
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          Jun 5, 2016, 08:42 AM

          The Starc re-start

          Australia's bowling attack had lacked the threat of high pace since December last year, when Mitchell Johnson's retirement was swiftly followed by Mitchell Starc having to undergo foot surgery. Upon completing his rehab, Starc was back in Guyana, and he showed the difference his pace could make. In the very first over, Andre Fletcher was scrambling to get some bat on a full toss that swung back late, before throwing his hands at a ball skating across him and slicing a catch to backward point. Starc's rhythm and direction were not quite at 2015 World Cup levels, but he had lost none of his speed.

          The weight of numbers

          From the start of his spell, Nathan Lyon gained just the right amount of turn to threaten the stumps from around the wicket. However, he had a hard time extracting a raised finger from umpire Gregory Brathwaite, who turned down four lbw appeals, of which at least two were shown by ball tracking to be solidly striking the stumps. In his younger days, Lyon might have grown frustrated but, on Sunday, he remained patient and improved his rhythm until Brathwaite upheld a fifth appeal, this time against Marlon Samuels. Glenn Maxwell was able to win Brathwaite's favour a little sooner, having Denesh Ramdin lbw from the same angle.

          The hustle

          Chasing a modest total, Australia's openers approached the innings with business-like intent. David Warner sat back in the crease to shovel Sunil Narine's second ball of the innings to the midwicket boundary, and his running between the wickets was all energy and hustle, pushing the West Indies fielders by repeatedly looking for a second run. The Providence Stadium crowd was roused into an expectant cheer several times by the sound of the bails being broken, but Warner was always one step ahead.

          The offbreak

          Before the tournament, Maxwell asserted the fact that he needed to be taking wickets as well as scoring runs to maintain his place in the Australian line-up. Over the recent months his batting returns had dried up, an uncharacteristically quiet IPL followed by his omission from the Test squad for Sri Lanka. Still ensconced at No. 5 in the ODI batting order, his second ball of the night was a Narine offbreak that dipped nicely and turned savagely. Good a delivery as it was, Maxwell's vague push at the line - without any regard for the spin clearly on offer - made it nigh on unplayable.