Mitchell Starc said “nothing changes” when the ball in his hand changes from red to pink.

Technically, nothing probably does but in a mental sense, he does seem to gain confidence with that shiny pink ball.

Knowing that he will generally swing the pink ball at certain times of a day-night Test gives him that belief.

But it’s far more than a ball with a different colour and slightly different properties that led to Starc’s career-best return of 6-48 on Friday.

Turning 35 next month, I thought he looked as good as I’d seen him rhythmically in the first Test in Perth.

And he swung the red ball there and swung it late.

There are a couple of noticeable things I see with Starc this summer.

His run-up is smooth and the pace that he is running in at looks consistent.

Run-up for a bowler is where it all starts and for any young cricketers watching out there, remember to get this right at an early age.

We all run in at different speeds but when Starcy is at his best, it’s his control and smooth run-up that then gives him the best chance at release to get it right.

It gives him much better control over what ball he is trying to deliver, and you could see at times when he was bowling the scrambled seam ball by the way he was placing the ball in his hand.

But the big one for him is the seam up or slightly angled seam to try and swing it. This is where he is at his most dangerous and I have a feeling he is downplaying things a little in his responses in the media. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” and “I don’t know the reason why”.

This is probably only half true and it reminds me of when I was at my peak as a left-arm fast bowler.

Like Starc, I didn’t always know why the ball would swing some days and not others. It could be the tiny differences in the way individual balls are constructed, that the conditions didn’t allow for it or the wrist is not quite in the right position.

What Starc has become better at now is he is aware of this and has a better plan because he is confident. You only have to swing one or two early to show the batsman you have that delivery.

Starc is pitching the ball around the off-stump line to a right hander. Some swing and some don’t, but the batsmen feel they have to play for the one that swings. And the same to a left-hander in reverse.