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The one player Australia would be “cooked” without
Nicholas Quinlan • December 5th, 2025 3:46 am
Damien Fleming has declared that Australia would be “cooked” had they not had the performance of Mitchell Starc over the last three innings.
The New South Welshman who went past Wasim Akram during the first innings for the most wickets taken by a left-arm bowler in Test cricket would once again have a stellar display with the pink ball in hand.
During his 19 overs for the day, Starc managed to claim six wickets, with the 35-year-old once again nabbing one of those six in the first over of the match as he did in both innings in Perth.
This performance has continued his purple patch of form, with three of his last four innings seeing Starc claim six wickets or more in an innings, which included a career best 7/58 in the first innings in Perth two weeks ago.
In fact, out of the 29 wickets that England have lost this series, Starc has been responsible for 16 of them whilst averaging 11.5 with the ball. The next closest in wickets is Ben Stokes on five.
At this current rate of averaging of 5.333 wickets per innings, this sees the New South Welshman on a trajectory that would see him surpass Jim Laker’s record of 46 wickets in a single Ashes series should he continue his astronomical form.
The feat becomes more impressive considering the fact that he’s been doing it without his regular members of the bowling cartel in Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who have both been out with injury.
And following the conclusion of Day 1, Fleming was quite proud of how the fast bowler went about his work.
“There looked like there was minimal swing,” Fleming told SEN Cricket.
“The wobble seam didn’t play a part like it did in Perth there, so you’ve got to do what you can do.
“So, a superhuman effort from Mitchell Starc. He’s taken 16 wickets already.
“Where would Australia be without him to this date? Australia would be cooked.”
Simon Katich also added that Starc had noted before the match that conditions would be tough.
“And he picked this before play started today because I saw before the game down on the ground,” he said.
“We were talking about the wicket, and he was concerned that with only 3mm (of grass on the pitch) that it was going to be hard work, and it was.
“So, for him to do what he did today and given the condition the ball was in, it’s an amazing effort.”
The Second Test will continue on Friday for Day 2, with play set to start from 3pm AEDT (2pm local time) with SEN having LIVE coverage of every ball bowled throughout the series through its radio network and on the SEN app.
