When an Ashes series finally begins and the interminable prognosticating reaches its end, it is customary to discover anew that all of the talk is just talk. So it was for all of us who have offered opinions on the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, and how losing two champion fast bowlers would drastically weaken the Australia side. Instead, it only gave space to their remaining colleague to dominate the first stanza of the Perth Test on his own. In barely a session, Mitchell Starc turned the Big Three into the Big One.
Scott Boland was off the boil – it didn’t matter. Brendan Doggett was on debut, chipping in around the edges – it didn’t matter either. Starc has now notched a career best in consecutive innings: six for nine in Kingston back in July, followed by seven for 58 here.
It’s strange that with so vast a career – currently 101 matches and 409 wickets – Starc has never before had a bag of this size. Half a dozen times he’s taken six in an innings, another 10 times he’s taken five. Most likely you can put that down to sharing the pie: not since his first two five-fers in 2012 has Starc reached the milestone without either of Cummins or Hazlewood in the side.
England, according to all those previews, were supposed to be made of sterner stuff. They didn’t play timidly, you can give them that, taking on the bowling to score at 5.2 runs an over: previous England sides getting bowled out in under 33 overs would have made 60. With Australia’s batting subsequently having its own disaster to the tune of 123 for nine, at stumps on day one England’s 172 doesn’t look so bad. But it is, and it should have been made to.
Nor was it the case, at least until a lower-order flail, that England got out playing recklessly in the way their critics lament. Starc didn’t pick up wickets in a kamikaze burst, but with consistent quality over a dozen overs split into two lengthy spells, the second of which was cut in half by the lunch break. Without much swing, with decent carry but no obvious weapons for a bowler, he was consistently above 140km/h, constantly at his opponents with barely a loose delivery. It might well have been his highest-quality performance on a surface good for batting.
Zak Crawley’s fall was the most self-induced, driving on the up in the manner that he compulsively does, nicking a delivery angled away. The much-hyped first ball of the series had been a nonevent, but within the first over Usman Khawaja was taking the catch at slip.
The next few did little wrong. The left-handed Ben Duckett got away swing from the left-armer, the ball heading towards leg stump before nailing him on the shin in front. Joe Root’s ball looked as if it would swing into the right-hander, but held its line and seamed away to take the edge.
That was the first spell. The second produced the ball of the day just after lunch, a scrambled seam taking the ball fractionally away from the left-handed Ben Stokes from over the wicket, only to cut back wickedly through a gate so wide that even St Peter couldn’t have managed it effectively. Gus Atkinson sparred to slip for Starc’s fifth, again pace and the angle across a right-hander proving irresistible.
That last stretch was when it became a capitulation, as Australia bowled short and England tried to belt everything. Doggett got Harry Brook and Brydon Carse, before Jamie Smith and Mark Wood burnished Starc’s day by slogging catches in consecutive balls. England can go six-heavy on their grounds at home, but shots that would have reached the front row of the seats over there were held two-thirds of the way to the boundary here.
Innings figures of seven for 58 have a memorable ring already. Australia has seen Ashes eight-fers and even a nine, but seven is a number with its own kind of fame. Mitchell Johnson, seven for 40 at Adelaide in 2013. Jason Gillespie, seven for 37 at Leeds, weeks before the double act of Michael Kasprowicz and Glenn McGrath each took seven at the Oval. Stuart MacGill’s seven for 50 in Sydney, Bruce Reid’s seven for 51 in Melbourne.
Keith Miller and Ray Lindwall both took sevens in 1946-47. Go back to the early days and find some of the greats: Demon Spofforth, Terror Turner, Hugh Trumble, Jack Gregory. There’s even an analysis that matches Starc’s: that was Charlie Macartney, better known for the eye-watering pace at which he scored his runs, turning to left-arm spin to take seven for 58 at Headingley in 1909.
The problem for Starc is that it’s undetermined whether those figures will go down as the memorable foundation of an Australian win or an unfortunately timed peak in a loss. Before stumps he was batting, at 83 for six, before getting out for 12. On the second day he will be bowling again far sooner than he would choose. He’ll have to produce another serious burst to contain England second time around. But then, you couldn’t put it past him. Long-term success will require support. There are days, though, when Starc is able to do it all on his own.
