Pink-ball cricket at Adelaide Oval must be the stuff of Starc’s dreams, and today they added up to career-best figures against an opponent that has traditionally had the better of him
Andrew McGlashan06-Dec-2024It was the roar. Mitchell Starc has celebrated plenty of wickets across his decorated career, but it felt as though this one had a bit more meaning than many. The first delivery thudded into Yashasvi Jaiswal’s pad as the left hander played across it and, for the third time in his career, Starc had a wicket with the first ball of a Test match.The last time a wicket fell to the opening delivery of a men’s Test was when Starc extracted Rory Burns’ leg stump with the opening ball of 2021-22 Ashes at the Gabba. That brought a wild celebration, too, but with the context of this match Jaiswal’s wicket was quite the moment. The noise from a yet-to-be-full Adelaide Oval as he departed was something to behold.There has been a lot said and written both during and after the first Test about Australia’s performance; plenty of it has been fair and balanced – it was a defeat of rare proportions on home soil – but there were extreme views and the usual collection of hot takes among it. Alex Carey talked of some surprise at the reaction, Nathan Lyon said he found parts of it humorous. But the bottom line was, Australia needed a quick response.Related
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They could not, therefore, have asked for a better start than removing the batter who had made 161 in the second innings in Perth. Jaiswal had shown his willingness to get into a duel by suggesting to Starc that he wasn’t bowling fast enough, although in the subsequent press conference spoke of his respect for Starc and thrill of facing him. He had, however, begun Perth with a duck courtesy Starc before making his presence felt. It is shaping as one of the battles of the series.For a little while after the early breakthrough, it appeared as though Australia were losing their way. Scott Boland denied himself a first-ball wicket in his first home Tests for two years when he overstepped having removed KL Rahul – in a bizarre twist Snicko suggested there was no nick despite the batter beginning to walk before the no-ball call. Later in the same over, Usman Khawaja spilled a catch at first slip to give Rahul a second life.Mitchell Starc is a pleased bowler, walking off with a career-best 6 for 48•Associated PressIndia reached 69 for 1 by the final half an hour of the session when Starc returned, having Rahul fending into the gully and then drawing Virat Kohli into edging a rising delivery to second slip in a similar manner to his dismissal in the first innings in Perth. Both Kohli and Starc love Adelaide Oval, but it was the latter who took the honours this time. When Boland trapped Shubman Gill lbw with a full delivery, India were 81 for 4 at the dinner break.On the one hand it was no surprise that Starc was Australia’s main man, but on another it went against the grain. He has a phenomenal record in pink-ball Tests – by the end of innings it read 72 wickets at 17.81, including 4 for 53 in the corresponding Test in 2020-21 – but overall against India in Tests it’s been more of a struggle: before today he had 51 wickets at 38.72 and never more than five in a game. They are comfortably the opponents he’s been least productive against.So, in a sense, it was using one of his favourite combinations – Adelaide and the pink ball – to overcome a more stubborn obstacle. He has been in excellent rhythm this season even if he took some punishment during India’s big second innings in the first Test. “I said last week in Perth, I thought he looked as good as he’s looked in a long time,” Ricky Ponting said on .Midway through the second session Starc returned and for the third time in the day and struck in his opening over in a spell when he trapped R Ashwin lbw with a full delivery which swung back (and also caused some damage to Ashwin’s foot). The movement was again on show when he ripped one through Harshit Rana as he continued producing significant shape with a ball 39 overs old.”Ash’s dismissal was a very good example of why he is so effective with the pink ball,” India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said. “He’s someone who presents the seam nicely. He obviously uses that other ball very well in setting up batters. When the ball swings back to a certain degree – a lesser degree – the batters can generally figure it out. But when you’re guessing on both sides, it makes him far more effective.”When Starc closed India’s innings by ending Nitesh Kumar Reddy’s boisterous counterattack it gave him new career-best figures of 6 for 48. It bettered the 6 for 50 he took against Sri Lanka, in Galle, in 2016, which in a neat twist was the first occasion he had taken a wicket with the first ball of a Test. With his Jaiswal wicket, Starc became the second bowler to achieve the feat three times after Pedro Collins, who has the wonderfully quirky distinction of removing the same batter – Bangladesh’s Hannan Sarkar – on each occasion.Scott Boland got among the wickets after Mitchell Starc started the collapse•Getty ImagesIt was also notable that Starc’s best analysis came in his 91st Test. Only two frontline bowlers have achieved a new high watermark later in their careers in terms of matches played: James Anderson in his 128th outing and Glenn McGrath in his 103rd.But while 180 all out looked like a job well done, we’d been here a couple of weeks ago in Perth when India were bowled out for 150 leaving Australia with the final session to bat. That did not go well for the hosts and here they not only had to contend with Jasprit Bumrah, but also the night-time session.The outcome was as good as could have been hoped for. Usman Khawaja edged Bumrah to slip – meaning his form remains a watching brief – but the inexperienced Nathan McSweeney, on his adopted home ground, and the under-pressure Marnus Labuschagne made it through to the stumps.McSweeney, who was dropped on 3 by Rishabh Pant, had been goaded by Rana during the early stages of his innings, which appeared to lure him into a pull that wasn’t far from being dragged on, but he retained his composure impressively beyond that, even when the floodlights twice when out in quick succession. As the final half hour approached, McSweeney slotted away consecutive boundaries against Reddy, and in the closing moments pulled the chirpy Rana for another.A day that started with a roar for Starc, ended with cheers for a local star doing the hard yards to make sure Starc’s work didn’t go to waste. Australia needed a good day; they had an excellent one.
