Mitchell Starc: Retirement Status, Net Worth, and Speed

Most fast bowlers spend their mid-thirties managing pain and fading pace. Mitchell Starc spent 2025/26 taking 31 Ashes wickets at 19.93, winning the Compton-Miller Medal (SEN, Australian sports broadcaster), and then becoming the No. 1 Test bowler in the world at 36 (ICC, cricket’s world governing body). That makes the retirement talk around him look premature — and the questions about his money, his pace, and his place in the record books worth answering properly.

Current ICC Test Ranking: No. 1 (August 2026) (ICC rankings) ·
Age: 36 ·
Test matches: 107 (Cricket.com.au official profile) ·
Test wickets: 445 ·
World Cup titles: 1 (2023) ·
IPL titles: 1 (2024)

Starc by the numbers

Ten rows, one pattern: the same left-arm bowler who burst through in 2011 is still setting career peaks in 2026 — now as the top-rated Test quick on the planet.

What this means: Starc has effectively had two peaks, a decade apart — and the second one is bigger.

Has Mitchell Starc retired?

Not from Tests or ODIs — and the one format he did leave was a calculated exit. In September 2025, Starc retired from T20I cricket with 79 wickets in 65 matches, a move Cricket Australia’s official site said was designed to extend his Test and ODI career through the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the ODI World Cup, and the Ashes tour (Cricket.com.au, Cricket Australia’s official site).

The Ashes that followed became the best of his career: 31 wickets at 19.93, earning the Compton-Miller Medal as player of the series (SEN, Australian sports broadcaster). In January 2026, SEN reported Starc saying he had no immediate plans to retire from Test cricket (SEN). Then came August 2026, when he rose to No. 1 on the ICC Test bowling rankings (ICC, cricket’s world governing body).

The pattern: every time a “last season” narrative builds around Starc, he answers with career-best cricket. The retirement question keeps being asked; the record book keeps answering it.

Is Mitchell Starc a millionaire?

Short answer: almost certainly yes. Long answer: the exact figure is private, and anyone selling you a precise number is guessing.

The documented structure is clearer. Starc has been an international since his debut in 2010 (ICC player profile), which means more than 15 seasons of Cricket Australia contracts, match fees, and tournament bonuses.

• International cricket since 2010 — contracts, match fees, bonuses (ICC player profile)
• IPL career, capped by the 2024 title (Wikipedia career summary)
• Endorsement income — the standard layer for a marquee quick

The honest framing: yes, Starc is a millionaire, but the size of the “yes” is private. The more useful signal is that he is still earning at the highest level — and the No. 1 Test ranking says he is.

Who is faster, Johnson or Starc?

Both are left-arm fast bowlers who built their reputations on pace. But “faster” is a harder question than the pub argument suggests, because cricket keeps no official record of a single ball’s speed — broadcaster speed guns vary by radar system, and readings are not standardised across series.

What is documented is Starc’s sustained pace and what it produced:

• 150 ODI wickets in 77 matches and 200 in 102 — the fastest any bowler has reached either mark in one-day history, according to Wikipedia’s career summary.

Johnson’s peak, by contrast, lives in memory: the slingy left-arm action, the intimidating spells, the 2013/14 Ashes that broke England’s batting order.

Three rows, one pattern: Starc’s case rests on records, Johnson’s on memory.

The verdict: Starc has not out-thundered Johnson ball-for-ball, but he has outlasted him and out-documented him — and the No. 1 ranking at 36 is the tiebreaker.

How much is Mitchell Starc worth?

Start with the honest answer: the exact number is not public. Starc’s camp has never published a net worth figure, and the estimates floating around aggregator sites vary so wildly that repeating one would be guesswork, not journalism.

What is visible from the outside is the structure. Starc has been a Cricket Australia-contracted international since his debut in 2010 (ICC player profile), and his match count — 107 Tests, 131 ODIs, 65 T20Is (Cricket.com.au official profile) — represents a pay base of central contracts and match fees that most cricketers never approach. Franchise income, including a 2024 IPL title-winning run, sits on top.

The takeaway: treat any exact “net worth” number you see as an estimate with no audit behind it. The evidence that matters is the structure — international contracts, IPL exposure, and longevity — and all of it points the same way.

Who is the richest player in cricket?

The name that consistently comes up is Virat Kohli, whose IPL and endorsement income have put him in a wealth bracket of his own. That is a global answer, though. Look at the Australian and English names in the conversation and the picture splits into two eras.

How rich is Steve Smith?

Earning base: CA contract + franchise deals · Reported status: among Australia’s top earners

Smith sits at the top of Cricket Australia’s contract hierarchy and has been a fixture in global franchise leagues throughout his career. He is consistently described as one of Australia’s highest-paid cricketers, with the exact figure shifting each contract cycle.

How rich is Ricky Ponting?

Career span: 1995–2012 · Post-retirement: coaching, commentary, endorsements

Ponting turned one of the greatest Test careers into a second income act as coach, commentator, and brand ambassador. Most published lists of Australia’s wealthiest cricketers place him near or at the top.

What is Ben Stokes’ salary?

Reported ECB earnings: seven-figure range · Additional income: IPL deals

Stokes is paid a substantial salary by the ECB, with IPL contracts layered on top — a combination that has taken him well into multimillion-pound territory during his prime.

How much is Ian Botham worth?

Playing era: 1977–1992 · Income mix: playing, commentary, endorsements

Botham’s wealth comes from his career and endorsements: a national-icon playing career, then decades of commentary and commercial work that kept his earnings running long after retirement.

How much is Joe Root paid?

Reported ECB salary: around £1 million a year

Root’s base England contract has been publicly reported at around £1 million per year, with franchise appearances and endorsements on top. It makes him the best-paid specialist batter in England’s current setup.

The pattern across all five names: the richest cricketers are the ones who converted on-field dominance into contract leverage and commercial life after retirement. Starc is still in the first phase — which is exactly where the money is.

Mitchell Starc career timeline

The arc of Starc’s career reads cleanly in reverse: early breakthrough, mid-career reinvention, late-career peak.

• 2010 — International debut (ICC player profile)
• 2011 — Test debut
• 2023–2024 — ODI World Cup in India, then the IPL title (Wikipedia career summary)
• September 2025 — T20I retirement, to extend his Test and ODI career (Cricket.com.au)
• 2025/26 — Ashes: 31 wickets at 19.93, Compton-Miller Medal (SEN)
• August 2026 — World No. 1 Test bowler (ICC rankings)

The shape is unusual: most fast bowlers’ timelines flatten after 30. Starc’s keeps climbing.

What’s confirmed — and what’s still unclear

The split matters because Starc generates more rumour than most great fast bowlers — money, retirement, speed. The confirmed list is the one to trust.

What the sources say

Starc said he has no immediate plans to retire from Test cricket — after taking 31 wickets at 19.93 in the 2025/26 Ashes and winning the Compton-Miller Medal.

SEN — Australian sports broadcaster, January 2026

Starc’s T20I retirement was a workload decision aimed at extending his Test and ODI career through the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the ODI World Cup, and the Ashes tour.

Cricket.com.au — Cricket Australia’s official website

The ICC’s records list Starc as an active international cricketer in 2026, with his rankings page placing him at the top of the Test bowling charts.

ICC — cricket’s world governing body

All three sources point the same way: the retirement story is on hold, the Ashes performance was elite, and world cricket’s governing bodies still count Starc among the game’s active elite.

Six months ago, the question was how much Starc had left. The 2026 answer: enough to sit No. 1 in the Test rankings (ICC rankings) with 445 wickets banked (Cricbuzz, cricket stats site) — more than any left-arm fast bowler in history. He has said he is not done, and the record book agrees. For Australian selectors, the choice is clear: build the 2027 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Ashes campaign around him and plan the succession battle behind him now — or learn, without a safety net, what a Test attack looks like once its greatest left-armer has bowled his last ball.

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