Mitchell Starc gave Australia a perfect start in the second Test against Bangladesh in Mackay, dismissing Shadman Islam for a golden duck with the first ball. Th left arm pacer found late swing and forced Shadman to edge the ball to Cameron Green at gully at the Great Barrier Reef Arena on Saturday, August 22.
Pat Cummins had opted to field after winning the toss. Bangladesh suffered a batting collapse, folding for just 64 runs in 34 overs. Australia's relentless pace attack kept taking wickets at regular intervals. The hosts' bowlers made full use of the bounce and movement to put Australia in complete control.
Mitchell Starc Surpasses Pedro Collins with First-Ball Strike in AUS vs BAN 2nd Test
Mitchell Starc gave the hosts a perfect start in the second Test, dismissing Shadman Islam for a golden duck with the first ball of the match. Shadman closed the bat face early before the thick edge flew straight to Cameron Green at gully.
The dismissal marked the fourth time Starc has taken a wicket with the first ball of a men's Test match. He moved past former West Indies pacer Pedro Collins, who had achieved the feat three times. Interestingly, Collins dismissed the same batter, Hannan Sarkar, with the first ball on all three occasions.
Mitchell Starc Moves Ahead of Anderson in First-Over Wickets
Mitchell Starc's early breakthrough also added to his impressive record with the new ball. He has now taken a wicket in the first over of a Test innings 28 times, leaving him just one behind England great James Anderson, who has 29 first-over dismissals.
According to ESPNcricinfo's statistics, Starc also has nine wickets in the opening over of a men's Test match, the most by any bowler. James Anderson took eight, while Ray Lindwall, Richard Hadlee and Kapil Dev took seven each.
Starc had a quiet outing in the first Test in Darwin, taking only two wickets across 30 overs. However, he quickly made his presence felt in Mackay and gave Australia the start they wanted after their disappointing result in the series opener.
Mitchell Starc Completes Five-Wicket Haul in 22 Balls
Mitchell Starc continued his devastating spell after removing Shadman with the opening delivery. Tanzid Hasan, who scored a century in Bangladesh's historic win in Darwin, departed without scoring. Najmul Hossain Shanto also fell for a duck as Starc reduced the visitors to 4/3 after only eight deliveries.
Mominul Haque briefly resisted and scored most of Bangladesh's early runs, but Starc struck again to claim his fourth wicket. Litton Das then fell for another duck. Starc needed only 22 balls to claim his five wickets.
He already holds the record for the fastest five-wicket haul in Test cricket, having taken five wickets in just 15 balls against the West Indies in 2025. Ernie Toshack, Stuart Broad and Scott Boland all took five wickets in 19 balls, while Shane Watson needed 21 balls against South Africa in 2011.
Starc surpassed South African great Dale Steyn, who finished his career with 439 wickets. He moved into 10th place among the highest wicket-takers in Test cricket.
Also read: "Australia batted poorly": Jason Gillespie blames batters for Bangladesh defeat
