Mitchell Starc was Australia’s star performer on day one, dominating proceedings with the ball before England roared back and gave Starc’s side a taste of all-out pace
Star quick Mitchell Starc has refused to buy into suggestions that Australia panicked during a dramatic collapse late on a remarkable opening day of the Ashes at Perth Stadium.
After Starc’s career-best 7-58 skittled England for 172 on Friday, Australia were left reeling at 9-123 only a few hours later.
The 19 wickets to fall were the most on the opening day of an Ashes Test since 1909 when 20 tumbled at Old Trafford.
Several Australia batters – including Starc, Travis Head and Alex Carey – played poor shots to be dismissed.
Starc attempted to praise the bowlers from both sides for the carnage, rather than blame the pitch, or the poor choices of the batters.
“It’s two innings of cricket,” he said.
“There’s a long time left in this series, and this game.
“No doubt the brains trust will have a chat, and we’ll come here for day two with the same approach of being pretty calm and pretty level.”
The parallels to last year’s Perth Test, where 17 wickets fell on the first day, are impossible to ignore.
India made just 150 batting first, but then reduced Australia to 7-67 at stumps on day one before going on to win the match comfortably.
Australia were still able to recover and win three of the next four Tests to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1.
Helping Starc and the rest of the Australia bowling group is that they only bowled 33 overs at England on day one so they should be relatively fresh heading into a quick second-innings turnaround.
“Sometimes you’re faced with that,” Starc said.
“I’ve played long enough to have trained the body to need to do that if I have to.
“You always like to sit back and watch your team bat.
“There’ll be other days where we’re in the field for a long time.”
But Starc, who grabbed his seven-wicket haul off 12.5 overs, will have to carry more of the load than normal, with captain Pat Cummins and fellow star quick Josh Hazlewood sidelined due to injury.
Scott Boland (0-62 from 10 overs), who blitzed England on Test debut at the MCG four years ago, was treated with disdain by the visiting batters on Friday.
Without Cummins and Hazlewood, England promised to target Boland, as they did in the 2023 Ashes, and they were true to their word.
Debutant Brendan Doggett made an impressive start, taking the key wicket of Harry Brook to finish with figures of 2-27.
“He certainly bowled a better first over in Test cricket than I did back in the day,” Starc said of Doggett.
“Thrilled for him to get his baggy green and take a few wickets.”
Doggett will bat with Nathan Lyon on Saturday as the tail-end pair attempt to secure crucial runs to reduce England’s lead of 49.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
