Since making his debut in 2011, Mitchell Starc has sent down the first delivery in 170 of Australia’s 195 bowling innings. With 26 first-over wickets, Starc strikes once every 6.5 times he opens the bowling.
Remarkably, 10 of those have come in the past 12 months. In the opening match of last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal sledged Starc about bowling too slow. A week later in Adelaide, Starc trapped him lbw with the first ball of the match.
From there, Starc’s hot streak continued against India with the wicket of Jaiswal in the first over in Brisbane, to go with the dismissal of South Africa’s Aiden Markram in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
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The run continued in Barbados, when Starc dismissed West Indian opener Kraigg Brathwaite in the first over, before producing his most absurd burst a few weeks later in Kingston: three wickets in six balls to remove John Campbell, Kevlon Anderson and Brandon King as the West Indies were rolled for 27 in an innings that also featured a Scott Boland hat-trick.
Starc’s most famous strike, however, remains the one that opened the 2021-22 Ashes series at the Gabba, when he bowled Rory Burns around his legs for a golden duck. Pakistan’s Abdullah Shafique also has an unwanted record: dismissed three times in the first over by Starc in the 2022-23 series.
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