Australian pace ace Mitchell Starc has left the field with an apparent ankle injury in the third Test against New Zealand.

Starc, who suffers from bone spurs in his right ankle, hobbled from Adelaide Oval after taking three New Zealand wickets on Friday’s opening day of the inaugural day-night Test.

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While the extent of his injury was not immediately known, the left-armer has long been troubled by the chronic ankle injury which will eventually require surgery and at least three months out of cricket, Australian chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said in September.

Marsh said at the time the future of Starc was “in the lap of the gods” because of the injury.

“My understanding of Starc is that he can keep going until it actually gets a hell of a lot worse, and then he will have to have an operation,” Marsh told reporters in September.

“He has got spurs in his ankle and there is a bit of bone that has broken off and floating and every now and then it gets into a position where it is just chronically painful.

“Eventually it is going to have to be removed but it will take another three or four months after the operation for him to be able to play again.”

The injury forced Starc to miss a one-day international in England in September when a cortisone injection failed to settle the injury as quickly as expected.