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Mitchell Starc enters exclusive club while decimating England with bat and ball at the Gabba in 2nd Ashes Test
Mitchell Starc's record-breaking performance at the Gabba includes a remarkable 77 runs and a six-wicket haul.
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.
A once-in-a-generation all-round Ashes performance
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.
Also Read: Wasim Akram can't keep calm after Mitchell Starc breaks his world record with six wickets in Ashes
The exclusive day-night double - and why it matters
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:
Player | Team | Match (day-night Test) | Batting | Bowling |
| Dilruwan Perera | Sri Lanka | vs Pakistan, Dubai 2017 | 58 | 5/98 (8 wickets in match) |
| Jason Holder | West Indies | vs Sri Lanka, Bridgetown 2018 | 74 | 9 wickets in match (5/41 & 4/19) |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | vs England, Brisbane 2025 | 77 | 6-for in the first innings |
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:
- Taken for 10-fer in Perth, then a six-for in Brisbane.
- Surpassed Wasim Akram to become the leading left-arm fast bowler in Test history.
- Extended his lead as the most prolific pink-ball bowler ever.
- Climbed to the top of the number nine run charts with a dashing knock.
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.
