The Ashes Briefing: England fight back with raw pace after Mitchell Starc’s career best haul
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It turns out Bazball is infectious. Even in Australia. The opening day of the Ashes in Perth was riddled with it.
Or at least, the version of it that breeds erratic batting, cheap wickets and vigorous shakes of the head from those who long for five days of the majestic Test cricket of yore, writes Michael Bailey in Perth.
The opening Test at Perth Stadium will not be going to five days. It may struggle to make it to three. On a remarkable first day:
- Nineteen wickets fell, the most on an opening day of an Ashes Test since Old Trafford in 1909 (20 wickets).
- There was a wicket, on average, every 23 balls.
- Captain Ben Stokes claimed the fifth-quickest five-wicket haul in England’s history (from 36 deliveries).
- Mitchell Starc took Test best figures of 7-58 for Australia, including his 100th wicket against England.
- Each side lost a wicket before scoring a run, the first time that had happened in the Ashes.
As for the advantage, that ebbed and flowed through an enthralling contest on a fast but fair Perth Stadium pitch.
It feels a long time ago, but England had won the toss and chosen to bat — a sound decision at the time but just like modern Test cricket, turned on its head within a few minutes. Australia were all over England out of the gate, skittling through the visitors for just 172 and in only 32.5 overs. The lunch was still warm.
Starc was in devastating form but by the close, Stokes was bouncing through Australian batters — and then the celebrations of his England team-mates — to ensure the visitors sleep well before tomorrow’s second day, when Australia will resume on 123 for nine.
Ben Stokes raises the ball after claiming his fifth wicket (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Harry Brook had highlighted the England batting with a breezy 52, while a duck for Joe Root was not the scene-setter for an elite batter chasing his first Test century in Australia.
Fortunately for England, their real response came from the bowlers. Selecting an all-seam attack, the quartet of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson shared short, intimidating spells that pummelled Australia to 31 for four.
Cameron Green’s partnership of 45 with Travis Head was as close to a stoic Test resistance as anyone could manage, before Stokes introduced himself to remove both within two overs. It was very much that kind of day — a 19 Test wickets kind of day.
Here, James Wallace and Cameron Ponsonby dissect the key talking points from the opening day at Perth Stadium.
Mitchell Starc: An appreciation
He was there all along.
All the chatter leading up to this Ashes series was about the men who wouldn’t be there for Australia, Messrs Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Good luck replacing two blokes who have racked up 604 (309 and 295) Test wickets, they said. But, in the end, the replacements barely got a look in. The bowler who did the damage had been hiding in plain sight the entire time.
Starc sliced, diced and filleted his way through England’s batting card like a left-handed Shokunin on the first morning at Perth Stadium, holding the ball aloft to a rapt capacity crowd an hour after lunch with figures of 7-58 — not only the best of his career but the best figures for an Australian in the first innings of an Ashes series.
Mitchell Starc leaves the field after claiming seven England wickets (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
A couple of days before the Test began, Starc was asked by the collected media how it felt to be the only one of Australia’s ‘big three’ left standing. “Old,” the 35-year-old replied drolly before going on to lament that the series wasn’t starting at Brisbane’s Gabba, scene of his first ball stump destroyer to Rory Burns. Fair to say he isn’t grumbling now.
It was with the sixth ball of the match, rather than the first, that Starc struck this time around.
In truth, it wasn’t his finest delivery (there were plenty of those to come) — he hung it out wide and Crawley poked tamely like a man shooing a spider away from the corner of the room with a broom handle; angled blade, nick and slip catch duly taken. Crawley stomped off, shaking his head, knowing he had committed a cardinal sin Down Under.
Mitchell Starc celebrates the dismissal of Zak Crawley with the sixth delivery of his opening over (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
From then on, Starc was majestic, pinning a dangerous-looking Ben Duckett low on the pad lbw for 21 to go to 99 Ashes wickets. He then opened up Root with an 88.7-mile-an-hour (142.8kmph) delivery that jagged just enough to take the edge. Cue Marnus Labuschagne doing the business in the slips and Starc wheeling away in raptures to celebrate his 100th Ashes wicket with the biggest English scalp of the lot.
His 101st wasn’t bad either — Stokes bowled with a ball that seamed back through the gate.
Mitchell Starc bowls Ben Stokes immediately after lunch on day one (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Stokes’ side were left glassy-eyed less than 33 overs into the series. Starc was so dominant, it felt as if someone should step in on ethical grounds on England’s behalf. In the first serving of the 2025-26 Ashes, Starc was both delicious and devastating.
James Wallace
Most Test wickets for Australia vs England
PlayerSpanWickets
Shane Warne
1993-2007
195
Dennis Lillee
1971-1982
167
Glenn McGrath
1994-2007
157
Hugh Trumble
1890-1904
141
Monty Noble
1898-1909
115
Ray Lindwall
1946-1959
114
Nathan Lyon
2013-2025
110
Clarrie Grimmett
1925-1934
106
Mitchell Starc
2013-2025
104
George Giffen
1881-1896
103
Where was England’s batting resolve?
It was England’s shortest-ever innings under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. After winning the toss, 32.5 overs were all it took for English hopes to rise, fade and crumble as, one by one, the batters came and went.
Australia’s decision to turn to the short-ball plan cemented the carnage. England’s top order had fallen to Starc’s masterclass, but, in the moments after Brook went to his 50, the Aussies gave the ball to debutant Brendan Doggett in the 30th over and spread the field.
From the fifth ball of the over, Brook attempted to get out of the way of a bouncer but gloved it through to the wicketkeeper, Alex Carey. Given not out on the field, only Carey and Smith at slip heard anything and reviewed, at which point Brook immediately began to walk off.
Harry Brook gloves the ball through to Alex Carey and his innings of 52 is over (Philip Brown/Getty Images)
That made it 160 for six. England’s batting depth is meant to be one of the strengths that gives them a chance in this series, but Atkinson edged his second ball to Steve Smith in the slips, before all of Carse, Jamie Smith and Wood fell attempting to pull. The final four wickets fell in 17 balls. The final five in 19 with just 12 runs scored.
The pace of the wicket in Perth saw batters rushed and taken by surprise; the same would later apply to Australia as they wilted in reply. Carse, in particular, was struck by a short ball that hit him flush in the grille of his helmet. Two balls later, he threw his hands at another bouncer and was well caught by Labuschagne on the boundary.
On large Australian grounds and against an England team desperate to attack whenever possible, it had always been a case of when, not if, Australia turned to the short-ball plan. It worked.
Cameron Ponsonby
Most wickets on first day of a Test
Home teamAway teamVenueYearWickets
Australia
England
Melbourne
1902
25
South Africa
India
Cape Town
2024
23
England
Australia
The Oval
1890
22
Australia
West Indies
Adelaide
1951
22
South Africa
England
Gqeberha
1896
21
England
Australia
The Oval
1882
20
South Africa
England
Gqeberha
1889
20
Australia
England
Melbourne
1894
20
England
South Africa
Leeds
1907
20
England
Australia
Manchester
1909
20
England
South Africa
The Oval
1912
20
Australia
South Africa
Melbourne
1932
20
England
Ireland
Lord’s
2019
20
Pakistan
West Indies
Multan
2025
20
Australia
West Indies
Sydney
1952
19
Australia
England
Perth
2025
19
How pace propelled England’s recovery
It looked it. It felt it. And according to CricViz, it was — the fastest England bowling attack ever to take the field.
Archer and Wood had only ever played one Test match together before today, and, supported by Atkinson, Carse and Stokes, England’s five-man battering ram was as box office as it promised.
England’s average speed on Day 1 in Perth was 141kph, the highest they have managed in a Test since records began in 2006. #Ashes pic.twitter.com/RhLm3ZqKk4
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) November 21, 2025
It was Archer and Atkinson who opened the bowling, and, after Archer dismissed debutant Jake Weatherald leg before for a two-ball duck where the batter ended up on the floor, they combined for a hostile opening spell where Australia took 28 balls to score their first run.
Jofra Archer appeals for leg before wicket against debutant Jake Weatherald (Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Wood replaced Archer after three overs and was immediately above 90mph. Across the opening 10 overs of the innings, England’s average speed was 89.5mph — the quickest they had recorded since ball-tracking records began in 2007.
With the ball in hand, England were relentless. And Wood, although wicketless, produced the most dramatic moment of the day when a vicious bouncer struck Green on the grille.
Green stumbled as if struck by a heavyweight and, whether through luck or design, somehow managed to direct his stagger away from the stumps.
Cameron Green is struck on the grille of his helmet by a delivery from Mark Wood (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
If Archer and Wood battered Australia, it was Carse and Stokes who bruised them.
Carse claimed the crucial wicket of Smith and then Usman Khawaja, forcing both to edge behind, before Stokes finally brought himself into the attack in the 28th over and immediately claimed the crucial wickets of Head and Green.
The Green wicket, caught behind, was particularly satisfying. Asking his mid-off and mid-on to come straighter just as he was readying to bowl, leaving a bigger gap at cover open, he hung one outside off-stump, enticing Green to drive away from his body — and he was gone. Three overs later, he had three more wickets and a sixth five-wicket haul in Tests.
Stokes’ roar said it all.
Cameron Ponsonby
Brook and the art of the counterpunch
If day one at Perth has taught us anything, other than to stock up on chamomile pills and crib some breathing exercises, it’s that England and Australia have extremely fallible batting orders.
Both sides also possess world-class bowlers. Not an ideal scenario for those with day four and five tickets or those meek of heart, but deliriously entertaining, nonetheless.
No doubt some of the stroke play witnessed on day one can be put down to nervous energy, but the signs are there that we are likely to see some low-scoring crap-shoots in this Ashes series. In such scenarios, swashbuckling knocks and momentum-shifting runs are worth their weight in gold.
In the 2013-14 Ashes, Brad Haddin scored 493 runs at an average of 61.62, the most runs by an Australian wicketkeeper in a series. The wicketkeeper-batter often arrived at the crease with Australia in strife, only to crush English hopes time and again with brutal stroke play, hitting one century and five half-centuries.
For all Mitchell Johnson’s terrifying brilliance, some argued Haddin’s contribution was just as important in Australia’s 5-0 victory.
Fast forward to the present and Brook came to the crease with England teetering on 39-3. His first scoring shot was a dance down the wicket and a thrash through the covers for three runs. Soon after lunch, he played his trademark lofted cover drive for six.
Harry Brook smashes Scott Boland’s second delivery after lunch over long off for six (Philip Brown/Getty Images)
He fell with the score on 160-6 after 106 minutes at the crease, feathering Doggett through to Carey to hand the debutant his first Test wicket, but his 52 off 61 balls is still the match’s highest score.
Brook is a dazzling player capable of changing a match in a matter of minutes. Australia have the same in Head, but he did not manage to bend the Australia first innings, scoring 21 off 35 balls, with just one boundary.
The battle of the two counterpunchers will be one of the many fascinating matchups of this series. After one day, Brook has his nose in front. With a 49-run lead and one first innings Aussie wicket to take, so do his team.
James Wallace
