Follow UsDeath, taxes, and Mitchell Starc dominating with the pink ball – you don't question the occurrence of these things as they are inevitable. After pulverising England in the first Test in Perth with his first over dismissals in both innings, where England lost the Test by eight wickets eventually, Starc started similarly in Brisbane as well.
Bowling in the absence of his usual pace partners Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, the veteran left-arm quick was bang on the money to start with. He conceded a four to Zak Crawley on the fourth ball of the first over, but when the strike was changed, and Ben Duckett faced the last ball, he bowled an absolute peach of a delivery.
The ball pitched full, angling into Duckett’s stumps. The batter brought his bat out to defend his stumps, but the ball moved away just enough to catch his outside edge, and Marnus Labuschagne made no mistake at first slip as he caught that safely.
Starc then returned in the third over and got the nervy Ollie Pope to chop on as the ball was going away from him, and he played a half-hearted horizontal bat shot, which produced an inside edge as the ball crashed into his stumps.
With these two wickets and a sensational start, Starc is now level with Wasim Akram and is one wicket away from becoming the most successful left-arm pacer in Tests
Most wickets for a left-arm pacer in Tests
414* - Mitchell Starc (195 inns)
414 - Wasim Akram (181 inns)
355 - Chaminda Vaas (194 inns)
317 - Trent Boult (149 inns)