Best in Business: Mitchell Starc Completes 100 Ashes Dismissals, Gets Root Out for Duck

Mitchell Starc vs England in Australia: tell me a better story than this. 

Like last time around, Starc began the Ashes Down Under in his own style, as the left-arm pacer dismissed Zak Crawley in the first over of the Perth Test, on November 21 (Friday). The left-arm pacer baited the right-handed opener with a floating delivery outside off-stump, and the English opener accepted the bait with both hands. 

Starc didn’t stop there, as the pacer bowled a brute of a delivery to dismiss Ben Duckett not too long after. The 35-year-old bowled with extra intensity and smashed the left-hander full and straight in front of the stumps to give Australia a head-start. 

However, the biggest wicket of them all was Joe Root. Before this Test, Root’s record in Australia spoke for itself, as the right-hander never scored a century Down Under. But ahead of the 2025-26 Ashes, Root claimed that he would turn his fortunes around on the tour, and failed in his first attempt. 

The left-arm seamer bowled a brute of a delivery that sprang up and got the outside edge, straight into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne. It was Starc’s 100th dismissal in the Ashes, and he became the first-ever left-arm pacer to take 100 wickets against England in Tests. 

Most wickets for a left-arm pacer against England in Tests

100 - Mitchell Starc (AUS)*

87 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS)

84 - Alan Davidson (AUS)

70 - Trent Boult (NZ)

Most ducks for Joe Root in a country in Tests (away)

3 - Australia*

3 - New Zealand

1 - West Indies

1 - Pakistan