Final pleasantries before Proteas, Aussies do battle

Injured head of Australia's current 'Fast Bowlers' Union' Mitchell Starc has vehemently denied suggestions that allrounder and FBU fringe member Mitchell Marsh has assumed Starc's mantle on the current ODI tour of South Africa.

Those suggestions came – perhaps unsurprisingly – from Marsh himself in Johannesburg last week, as Australia prepared for their one-off ODI against Ireland and the five matches against South Africa set to follow, beginning tonight (Friday, 8.30pm AEST).

"I've spoken to 'Starcy' and I’ve taken over as interim chairman of the FBU," Marsh alleged.

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"Hopefully the speedos (speed guns) are turned up for us and they’ll be in the 140s (kph), though I probably doubt that."

Speaking on Thursday as co-host on cricket.com.au's Unplayable Podcast, Starc refuted Marsh's comments that he'd been given the left-arm quick's blessing to take the lead role in the FBU – a revered group within the national team set-up reserved for, as the name suggests, the fast bowlers of the squad.

"I hope he's listening, because I'm still waiting for that phone call," Starc revealed. "He said he'd called me to discuss this and that's a blatant lie."

Asked if Marsh was even a genuine member of the FBU – the allrounder's legitimacy has been questioned due to the limited pace of his right-arm offerings – Starc was undecided.

"That is debatable – I think he's hanging on by a thread," the injured New South Welshman added.

"I think it's if he qualifies as a bloke as well (laughs); he'll hate me saying that.

"Going through the last Ashes tour, he was sitting in the row (on the coach) just in front of the bowlers' section, just hoping for an invitation.

"We gave him a few bread crumbs a few times but he keeps trying to get up there – he keeps telling us he's bowling that odd ball in the 140s (kph).

"I don't know if we just let him in because we're good blokes, (but) he's hanging on by a thread and if he keeps making comments like that he's going to find himself out in the cold very soon."