Mitchell Starc took 5 wickets (Photo: PTI)
Mitchell Starc 7 Wickets: There was neither Pat Cummins nor Josh Hazlewood in the Australian team… In such a situation, the entire responsibility was on the shoulders of Mitchell Starc alone, which he fulfilled very well. Mitchell Starc bowled so lethally in the first innings of the Perth Test against Australia that the England team was unable to score runs. He single-handedly took not one, two, three, four or five, but 7 wickets of England. During this devastating bowling, Mitchell Starc did something which he had never done before in his 14-year Test career.
That fatal spell of Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc started writing the story of his wickets from the very first over of the match. The impact of his havoc on England was evident from the very first spell he bowled in the first session. Mitchell Starc took 3 wickets for 17 runs in 6 overs in the first spell, which included the wickets of both the openers i.e. Jack Crilly and Ben Duckett. Apart from these, he took the third wicket of Joe Root in the first spell. Stark’s havoc was such that even the accounts of Crowley and Root could not be opened.
Starc took 4 wickets in the second session
When Mitchell Starc came to bowl in the second session, he took 4 more wickets in his account in no time. In the second session he dismissed Ben Stokes. After that Atkinson was hunted. Jamie Smith was also not spared and then England’s first innings was ended with the wicket of Mark Wood.
Did this for the first time in 14 years of Test career
Mitchell Starc bowled 12.5 overs in the first innings against England in the Perth Test and took 7 wickets for 58 runs. This is the first time in the 14-year career of Mitchell Starc, who made his Test debut in 2011, that he took 7 wickets in an innings of a Test match. Before this, his best in an innings was taking 6 wickets for 9 runs.
Mitchell Starc has achieved the feat of taking 5 or more wickets for the 17th time in his Test career. This is the 5th time against England, when he has taken 5 plus wickets.