Mitchell Aaron Starc is an Australian international cricketer who plays for the Australian national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket. A left-arm fast bowler and a lower order left-handed batsman, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in white-ball cricket as well as one of the best fast bowlers to play the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Starc started playing cricket from a young age, at 9 years old for Northern Districts as a wicket keeper. He was a representative cricketer of the Northern Districts Cricket Association and attended Homebush Boys High School, representing the school's 1st grade cricket team. He is also a former junior cricketer for the Berala Sports Cricket Club in Sydney, where he was known to wicket keep and bowl in the same innings.

Starc had a rookie contract with New South Wales for the 2008/09 summer, and in February 2009 was brought into their squad to replace Aaron Bird after Bird was suspended for having an illegal bowling action. He made his first-class debut in New South Wales' final match of the season on 5 March 2009 against Western Australia. In eight Sheffield Shield games through the season, he took 21 wickets, including a best of 5 for 74 against Queensland, and scored a half-century against Victoria. Starc was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sport in 2010, where his bowling helped the team to win the Emerging Players Twenty20 Trophy over teams from India, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Due to his impressive performances in the 2010 winter, Starc was chosen as a late replacement in Australia's tour of India in late 2010, replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood. Starc made his international debut on this tour, playing in a One Day International against India on 20 October 2010. He did not bat and was wicketless. Starc played his second ODI later in the summer, in the final match of Australia's three-match series against Sri Lanka. Starc and fellow fast bowler Clint McKay took nine wickets between them in Sri Lanka's innings to set up an eight-wicket win for Australia. The win ended a seven-match losing streak for Australia.

Starc came into contention for a Test cricket debut in the 2011/12 season. He took two five-wicket hauls against Queensland in November: first in a Sheffield Shield match, then in a one-day match. Starc made his Test debut for Australia on 1 December 2011, in the first Test of the two-Test series against New Zealand. He was given his baggy green by Richie Benaud and took two wickets in the match. He took another two wickets in the second Test, but he was left out of the team named for the first Test of the subsequent series against India, and was then removed from the squad entirely for the 2012 New Year's Test.

Starc was recalled to Australia's Test squad when James Pattinson was ruled out because of a foot injury, and he played in the third Test on the pace-friendly WACA Ground in place of spinner Nathan Lyon. He excelled in bowling with swing to right-handed batsmen, and among his four wickets he successfully dismissed Sachin Tendulkar leg-before-wicket. Starc again joined the Australian ODI squad for Australia's series against Afghanistan and Pakistan in August and September 2012. He began the tour in superb form, winning man of the match in Australia's first two matches for taking four wickets against Afghanistan and five wickets against Pakistan in two wins and then a loss. In the final deciding ODI of the series, Starc bounced back and took four wickets.

Starc was finally included in the side for the final Test of the series against South Africa in Perth. Whilst Australia lost the match, Starc took 6/154 and achieved the second fastest Test fifty (32 balls) by an Australian in Australia's second innings in December. Though Australia lost that match, Starc helped bowl Australia to their first win of the summer in the next match against Sri Lanka in Hobart. In the final innings, Starc bowled aggressively with reverse swing and took the final two wickets of the innings to win the match, finishing with figures of 5/63.

Starc and Bird would both be selected for the Sydney Test a week later, and Starc remained in the team for the following ODI series against Sri Lanka. During the opening match of the series, Starc experienced calf soreness which forced him to miss the second match. This was the first time an injury had forced Starc to miss a match for Australia. He also played in Australia's ODI series against the West Indies, and he was named player of the match for a devastating 5/20 spell in the 1st ODI, which helped bowl the West Indies out for 70 runs - a total which Australia chased down within just 10 overs.

In the 3rd Test of Australia's tour of India, Starc came within one run of being the first Australian to score a Test century batting 9 or below for 65 years. He played "nervelessly" through most of his innings, but when he reached 99 India's captain MS Dhoni brought the fielders in to put more pressure on Starc, and he began to play false shots. Starc attempted to drive the ball from Ishant Sharma's bowling, but instead he edged the ball behind him and was caught by Dhoni. It was then discovered that a separate spur had already broken off on the inside of Starc's ankle, which had been causing him pain for several months. Starc later revealed that he had been relying on injections of painkillers to get through his bowling, but the injections were no longer numbing the pain by the end of the India series.

The surgery was a success and he was named in Australia's squads for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2013 Ashes series in England. Starc's first international match after recovering from his ankle surgery came in Australia's first match of the Champions Trophy. This loss to England turned out to be Starc's only match for the tournament as he was still tentative in his recovery from injury. He continued his recovery by playing in a tour match against Somerset, in which he and James Pattinson tore through Somerset's batting with the second new ball, taking 6 wickets for no runs.

After playing in the 2nd Test match against Pakistan, Starc returned to Australia to play for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield. He took seven wickets in his first match back against South Australia, but suffered a groin strain and was ruled out of the next match. He was officially reprimanded by the International Cricket Council for an "exaggerated celebration" after taking the wicket of Murali Vijay. When Vijay was caught behind the stumps by Brad Haddin, Starc celebrated by screaming in Vijay's face. Despite the reprimand, Starc performed well and took five wickets.

Starc helped Australia to win the 2015 Carlton Mid Triangular Series against India and England. He bowled well from the first match of the series, taking two wickets in the first three balls of England's batting innings. He followed up his four wickets against England with six wickets against India, again taking a wicket in the first over of the innings. He was named the player of the match in both matches. Starc was part of Australia's victorious team in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, hosted in Australia and New Zealand.

After the loss to New Zealand, Australia won the rest of their group matches against Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Scotland. Against Scotland, Starc took four wickets for 14 runs in just five overs of bowling, including dismissing both of Scotland's opening batsmen in the first seven overs of the innings. Australia made it to the final of the World Cup, which was again played against New Zealand. This time New Zealand batted first, and Starc opened the bowling for Australia. On the third ball of the match, Starc bowled Brendon McCullum. This wicket had the effect of putting New Zealand on the defensive from the very beginning, and they never recovered. Starc finished the tournament with 22 wickets and a bowling average of 10.18. His bowling strike-rate was 17.4 balls per wicket, the best of any bowler in a World Cup since the inaugural 1975 Cricket World Cup.

Starc returned to red-ball cricket in Australia's tour of the West Indies in June 2015. He took time in his first few overs of the Test series to find his rhythm, but once he did he became very difficult for the West Indies batsmen to handle. His 10 wickets at an average of 16.00 was second only to Josh Hazlewood in the series. Australia then went to England for the 2015 Ashes series. In a tour match ahead of the Ashes against Essex, Starc bowled a spell in which he took six wickets, including the last four wickets of Essex's innings inside just 20 deliveries. He was still able to take five wickets in England's first innings, and was Australia's most successful bowler during the match, but he took his wickets at the cost of many runs.

In the fourth Test, Starc took career-best bowling figures of 6/111 in England's first innings, but this turned out to be England's only innings because they won the match by an innings and 78 runs to regain the Ashes. Across the Ashes, Starc had had numerous bowling spells that England's batsmen were incapable of responding to, but he was never able to bowl to his best in crucial moments. He managed to take 18 wickets, but conceded nearly 4 runs per over through the series. Starc finished the 2015 calendar year by playing in Australia's Test series against New Zealand. In the second Test match, Starc bowled the fastest ball recorded in Test cricket, with the broadcaster's speed gun measuring it at 160.4 km/h.

Starc's return from his foot surgery in December 2015 came when he was named in Australia's squad for the 2016 West Indies Tri-Series in June. Starc next joined Australia's tour of Sri Lanka from July to September, where he experienced great personal success. He bowled especially well in the second Test match, taking a wicket with the first ball of the match. He had bowling figures of 5/44 on the first day of the match, which broke the record for the best bowling figures by an Australian fast bowler in Sri Lanka, and the record for best bowling figures by any fast bowler at Galle International Stadium. In the final Test match, Starc took his third five-wicket haul in three innings, but struggled with deep footholes on the pitch at SSC Cricket Ground. Starc had to adjust his follow-through to avoid the footholes, running further onto the pitch and attracting the attention of the umpires. Starc took 24 wickets across the series, breaking the record for the most wickets for an overseas fast bowlers in a three-Test series in Asia.

Starc's success continued into the subsequent ODI series, where he took his 100th ODI wicket in his 52nd match. This made Starc the fastest bowler to reach 100 ODI wickets, breaking a 19-year record previously held by Saqlain Mushtaq. During the Pakistan series, he played in the Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the first time in his career. Starc was rewarded for his performance and resilience when he won Australia's Men's Test Player of the Year award for 2016. This was the first time in nine years that a bowler had won the award. He was also named in the ICC's Men's Test Team of the Year. In 2017, Starc returned to New Zealand for the first time since the 2015 World Cup in an ODI series against New Zealand, but he wasn't able to recapture his form from 2015. Though his fitness had fully recovered since his most recent foot injury, he was struggling to get the ball to swing like he had previously.

Starc returned from this injury to play in the first two rounds of the 2017/18 Sheffield Shield season for New South Wales as a way to prepare for the 2017/18 Ashes series. This turned out to be an incredibly successful two matches for him, as he took career-best figures of 8/73 against South Australia, then became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in each innings of a Sheffield Shield match while playing against Western Australia. It also made him only the second ever player to take 2 hat-tricks in the same Sheffield Shield match since Hal Hooker in 1929. This was both the first time the feat had ever been in achieved in Australia, and the first time it had been achieved anywhere in the world since 1978.

Starc spent time recovering from an injury before traveling for Australia's 2018 away tour of South Africa, where he had not previously played red-ball cricket. In the first Test match of the series, he took five wickets in the first innings and 4 in the second to achieve match bowling figures of 9/109, for which he won the Man of the Match award. During the match he engaged in "fiery exchanges" with South African batsman Theunis de Bruyn as well as South African spectators. In the second Test match, Starc came into disagreement with his captain Steve Smith over how to bowl to South African batsman AB de Villiers.

The series was overshadowed by the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal. The Australian team was caught in the third Test match using sandpaper to rough the cricket ball and make it easier to swing, which is against the laws of cricket. On the day that they were caught cheating, Smith claimed that "the leadership group" had come up with the plan together, which would have implicated Starc as he had been a member of the leadership group at various times. Starc was not found to be involved, but Cricket Australia gave Smith a 12-month ban from international and domestic cricket and a subsequent 12-month ban from team leadership positions.

Starc struggled for form in the 2018/19 Border–Gavaskar Trophy series against India. His bowling in the first Test match was seen as subpar, putting focus on him to improve. This resulted in a return to form in the following Test series against Sri Lanka, where his bowling speed consistently reached 150 km/h. He was instrumental in setting up Australia's series clinching win in the second Test with a ten-wicket haul. Scans after the match revealed that Starc had torn his left pectoral muscle, so he was declared unavailable for Australia's tour of India in February and March 2019.

Australia's first match of the World Cup was against the West Indies. Starc took five wickets in Australia's 15-run win, including wickets at crucial times of the match to ensure Australia would get across the line. In June 2019, in the match against New Zealand, Starc became the first bowler to take three five-wicket hauls at the Cricket World Cup. He finished the tournament with 27 dismissals, which is an all-time record for most wickets as an individual in a single World Cup. The following month, in the second Test against India, Starc took his 250th wicket in Test cricket. Starc was named in 2021/22 Ashes series Test squad. He performed throughout the series, with both the ball and bat, scoring runs as a capable lower-order batsman and picked up 19 wickets in 5 matches with a bowling average of 25.36. Starc scored 155 runs with a 38.75 batting average, which assisted the Australian cricket team to retain the Ashes and win the series 4–0.

Starc was bought by Delhi Capitals to play in 2025 Indian Premier League for £1.0 million. And on 30 March 2025, He took 5/35 leading Delhi Capitals to win against Sunrisers Hyderabad. His awards include: 2015 World Cup Player of the Tournament - ICC Men's Test Team of the Year: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023 - ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year: 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019 - Allan Border Medal: 2022 - Shane Warne Men's Test Player of the Year: 2017 - Australian Men's ODI Player of the Year: 2022 - ICC Cricket World Cup Highest Wicket Taker: 2015, 2019 - Marsh One Day Cup Player of the Tournament: 2015–16 - Wisden Cricketer of the Year: 2024.