“As bowlers get older they definitely get to know their body a lot better,” Lee said in 2011. “I certainly know now the stiffness that might be my legs, might be my elbow, might be my back, I just know its stiffness because I haven’t bowled for a week or because I’ve bowled for 10 overs flat-out, it’s been hot, it’s been humid, you’re dehydrated.

“Then there’s that pain there where you go ‘oh I’m not used to that pain, that’s different pain, that shouldn’t be there’. The warning signs go off and you go straight to the physio. That just comes from experience; you can’t teach it to a 17-year-old kid.

“Most importantly you don’t want guys at 17 or 18; the first time they feel a niggle, they go to the physio and say ‘my calf’s hurting me’ and they have three weeks off and they don’t know where the line is.”

Lee’s Test career maxed out at 76 games and 310 wickets. That Starc has now played 88 Tests for 354 wickets, at a superior average and strike rate to Lee, is testament to how well he learned that lesson, but also how the system evolved to take great care of him, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

Starc reflected on the fact that his ability to carry niggling problems through 2023 - in particular at the World Cup where he missed one game out of 11 and saved his very best for the semi and the final - was testament to maturity. Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood are set to complete seven out of seven home summer Tests together this week.

Funnily enough, at 34 Starc is now at the same age as when Lee expressed his concern for young fast bowlers learning to discern how their bodies were coping with the rigours of bowling at the edge of their capacity.

“A lot of work goes into that that people don’t see, whether that be the rehab or the handling of niggles,” Starc said. “There are certainly sore mornings for a lot of people but that comes down to experience and knowing how to deal with certain things and finding ways through them to still make an impact on the team and carry out your role.

“There was a few things going on, but I’ve played long enough and had to deal with enough things to know how to deal with those and I spent a lot of time with physios and working through it.

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“I wouldn’t have trained much through the World Cup because of certain things, but that was all part of managing what was going on, and I think it was the same for Pat and Josh and Nathan coming back from his calf injury as well. In terms of the bowlers, we’ve all had to manage things.”

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