No Josh Hazlewood, no Pat Cummins. It was Mitchell Starc who single handedly destroy England cricket team in the first innings of the first Test match of the ongoing Ashes series on the Australian soil. In the first innings at the Perth Stadium, the pacer got 7 Wickets, then in the second innings, he struck three times and completed 10 wicket haul. With this bowling performance, Starc touched a massive record.
200 for Mitchell Starc
Australia’s fast bowler Mitchell Starc has won the first Test of the Ashes 2025-26 at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The experienced left-arm pacer took seven wickets for 58 runs in 12.5 overs on the first day and took three more wickets in the second innings to complete a total of 10 wickets in the match. But Starc’s real record was made before this. He became the third player in the world to take 200 wickets in the World Test Championship (WTC).
Before the start of the Perth Test, Starc stood at 191 wickets in the World Test Championship. He reached the 200-wicket mark when he dismissed England legend Joe Root. He achieved this milestone by bowling Root in the 20th over of the second innings. This was Root’s second consecutive low score in this match, scoring 0 in the first innings and 8 in the second.
With this achievement, Starc has moved to third place in the list of the top five bowlers in the WTC, behind only Nathan Lyon (219) and Pat Cummins (215).Starc began the second innings by dismissing Zak Crawley for a duck. He then dismissed Joe Root and finally England captain Ben Stokes.
Stokes was caught by Australian captain Steve Smith. Stokes, who took five wickets for England in the first innings, managed only two runs in the second. Starc’s bowling shattered England’s batting in both innings and laid the foundation for Australia’s massive lead in the Perth Test.