Mitchell Starc enters exclusive club while decimating England in 2nd Ashes Test

Mitchell Marsh didn't just bash England at the Gabba - he walked straight into Test cricket's record books and locked the door behind him.

Across three days of the second Ashes Test, Starc has produced the kind of all-round performance that usually lives in folklore: 77 at number nine, a six-wicket haul, pink-ball dominance, and a stack of milestones that tell you this is not just “good form” - this is greatness on display.

Australia's first innings 511 was built on collective contributions, but the tone at the back end was pure Starc. Walking in at 7-down with the lead still in the balance, he grounded out 77 off 141 balls with 13 fours, stitching a 75-run ninth-wicket stand with Scott Boland and stretching the lead to 177 against England's 334.

It is the second-highest Test score, behind the 99 at Mohali in 2013 - another innings where he dragged an Australian card from respectability to menace. And this Gabba knock also pushed him past Stuart Broad to claim the most runs ever scored at number nine in Tests.

With the ball, the left-arm pacer had already ripped out 6/75 in England's first innings to set up that platform and, in the process, overtook Wasim Akram to become the second most successful left-arm fast bowler in Test history - 415+ plus wickets in 102 Tests, passing Akram's 414 from 104.

Starc's Gabba effort slots him into one of Test cricket's rarest clubs: players who have scored 50+ and taken a five-for in the same day-night Test. Only three names sit there:

58

74

77

The table gets even more ridiculous when you remember that Mitchell Starc is already the king of pink-ball Tests. He came into Brisbane with 81 wickets in 14 day-night Tests at an average of 17.08, nearly double the next best, with no other bowler close to his strike-rate or volume. The Gabba haul has only pushed those numbers further into frak territory.

Add it up, and this Gabba Test is about the sharpest expression of a trend. In the space of two matches, Starc has:

For England, this is the nightmare combo: the game's most destructive pink-ball quick also happens to be the world's most productive number nine for Australia. It's a reminder that in this phase of his career, Mitchell Starc isn't just winning passages of play - he's actively rewriting what an all-format fast bowler can look like in modern Test cricket.

Source: HindustanTimes
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