About as far off Broadway as possible, at a three-day match in Worcestershire in between two Tests he wasn't picked for, Mitchell Starc said all the right things.

In front of a press box that literally held three men and a dog, he spoke about the six bowlers in Australia's squad operating with a team mentality. Only three could play any given match, but the Ashes ranked higher than ego.

Of course he wanted to play, but his sentiment seemed sincere. On previous tours Australian teams had tried importing the same bowling approach they used at home, and that had failed dismally. Starc had left England empty-handed twice and had no desire to repeat the experience.

The squad policy was the right one, giving the adaptability to suit different situations. James Pattinson and Peter Siddle had played two English county seasons with success, so they joined Pat Cummins to win in Birmingham.

Josh Hazlewood returned from injury in the second Test to rest Pattinson, who got his next gallop in the third match as Siddle made way. Starc came into the mix for Pattinson as an impact bowler in the fourth match.

Mitchell Starc will want to keep hold of the pink ball for as long as possible. ( AP: Trevor Collens )

Ben Stokes had just marmalised Australia at Headingley, but Starc knocked him over for 26 at Old Trafford. He added the dangerous Jonny Bairstow twice and smashed a half-century himself that took Australia's first innings from strong to dominant.

Leaving him out for the fifth Test was the one rotation mistake, and would have stung the bowler more than his earlier wait. He had done his part in sealing the trophy for Australia, and a bat-friendly Oval pitch needed his velocity. But Siddle had taken a bag of wickets there on Australia's previous visit, so there was an argument for him too.

It's easy to look at Starc now and conclude that he should have played five Ashes Tests. But on two prior England tours, he hadn't clicked. Inaccuracy was a big part of that. There were reasons the loosest bowler in the squad was picked late.

In the current Australian season it's a different story, as Starc has played all three Tests and clattered through 19 wickets. It's not surprising given he has honed his game for home conditions. Australian pitches can be painfully flat for visiting bowlers with a lack of sideways movement, but they usually still offer bounce.

Mitchell Starc picked up his fifth wicket in the daylight, albeit a touch fortuitously. ( AP: Trevor Collens )

Starc's stock ball is awkwardly back of a length. His round-the-wicket option is a menace with its steep angle at the stumps. When conditions are helpful, he can get swing early and reverse late. And when a pitch seems dead, he still has the pace to give a short ball some venom. With similar attributes in bowlers like Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, they can hunt in a pack.

Finally, throw in the pink Kookaburra ball and the day-night Test format. After seven Pakistan wickets in a daytime match in Brisbane, Starc took the pink ball and rattled through six in an innings in Adelaide and another five against New Zealand in Perth.

Both times he did match-defining damage: early strikes to get openers, then the team's best batsman, the up and comer, the doughty rearguard merchant, and a few more besides.

When Tom Latham got a thick leading edge high in the air in the first over of New Zealand's innings in Perth, his head darted around to all directions trying to find where it had gone. The ball eventually lobbed down more or less in front of him, where Starc had galloped with the speed and gait and big outstretched hands of the BFG.

The dismissal was symbolic because one of the things about Starc bowling in the evening is that he seems harder to see. Batsmen seem to pick up the ball later, or not at all. There were more hops and fends and spars. The changing nature of the light, from sunshine to incandescent, would make that a logical possibility.

On the second evening of the Perth match he ran through four wickets. His fifth came the next day in the sunshine, and while the witching hour feel of the evening was no more, the bowling was just as good.

Colin de Grandhomme might have been unlucky to have been given out to a marginal touch or otherwise on the glove, but the short ball climbed up a chimney at the batsman, giving him nowhere to go.

Colin de Grandhomme was dismissed by a ripper of a short ball from Starc. ( AP: Trevor Collens )

Starc's season has been a touch slower on average, though still close to 143 kilometres an hour. This may have helped his accuracy, with one more ball in each 20 landing in the channel outside off stump.

He has still bowled wild ones down the leg side when aiming short, but less often way outside off stump after angling across right-handers. Making batsmen play, Starc has so far drawn a higher percentage of false shots in the Perth Test than in all but one other match in his career.

The Australian camp, meanwhile, has quickly moved back to having a first rank of bowlers. Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood are the Big Three, others must wait for an opening.

On balance, that seems entirely fair. At home there is a formula that works. Starc is in the first team picked anytime in Australia, and probably South Africa, and anywhere in Asia.

Then once in a while, there might be other factors to consider. Conditions that suit less, a premium on accuracy, a tendency to flag or get injured by the fourth or fifth Test of a sequence.

Starc will never be a model of consistency. He isn't that. What he is, as of right now, is running hot, and running towards 250 Test wickets. From the careful plans in England to the freewheeling back home, he's in a team that can accommodate that range.