Mitchell Starc led from the front, taking 31 wickets and guiding Australia to a dominant 4-1 Ashes victory amid major bowling absences.
It was fitting that Mitchell Starc cleaned up the last two England wickets of the Ashes 2025/26. It was a close contest between him and Travis Head for the Compton-Miller medal (Player of the Series), but Starc was a worthy winner for his jaw-dropping performance in Australia’s 4-1 series victory. The left-arm pacer ended as the leading wicket-taker with 31 scalps in 10 innings at an average of 19.93.
Head was outstanding with his aggressive approach at the top throughout the seven weeks. However, Starc’s heroics proved even more impactful than the southpaw’s 629 runs at an average of 62.90. It was the New South Wales pacer who set the series on fire, claiming 18 wickets at an average of 14 across Perth and Brisbane. Starc truly breathed life into the proverb, ‘Age is just a number.’
Mitchell Starc’s domineering bowling in Ashes 2025/26 victory
Mitchell Starc became only the first bowler to bag 30+ wickets in an Ashes series since Mitchell Johnson’s 37 wickets in 2013/14. Since the beginning of 2015, it was also only the second time that a pacer picked up 30+ wickets in a Test series. Jasprit Bumrah’s 32 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024/25 remain the other instance.
Starc, who turns 36 at the end of January, has now leveled with Ranaga Herath (433) as the highest Test wicket-taker among left-arm bowlers. Meanwhile, during the second Test at the Gabba, he overtook Wasim Akram to be the most successful left-arm fast bowler in red-ball cricket.
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Most Test wickets as left-arm bowlers
| Player | Inns | Wkts | Avg | SR | 5W/10W | BBI |
| R Herath | 170 | 433 | 28.07 | 60.00 | 34/09 | 9/127 |
| M Starc | 202 | 433 | 26.51 | 46.20 | 18/03 | 7/58 |
| W Akram | 181 | 414 | 23.62 | 54.60 | 25/05 | 7/119 |
| D Vettori | 187 | 362 | 34.36 | 79.50 | 20/03 | 7/87 |
| C Vaas | 194 | 355 | 29.58 | 66.00 | 12/02 | 7/71 |
Starc was equally excellent with the bat, collecting 156 runs in seven innings. His average of 26 was better than two high-profile all-rounders in the series, Ben Stokes (18.40) and Cameron Green (24.42).
Before Starc, the last instance of a player taking 30 or more wickets and scoring two or more fifty-plus scores in the same Test series came during the 1985 Ashes. Ian Botham achieved the feat with 31 wickets and 250 runs across six Tests. Only four other players, apart from Starc, have managed this double in a Test series of five or fewer matches, with Australia’s Richie Benaud being the last to do so in 1957.
Starc’s growth over time remains breathtaking. Since the start of 2023, the veteran has picked up 129 wickets in 58 Test innings at an average of 24.73. He has recorded a cracking strike rate of 38 with five 5-wicket hauls and one ten-wicket haul.
Since the beginning of 2022, Starc has picked up four or more wickets in 10 Tests. Australia went on to win six of them as the pacer’s average goes down to 8.42 in those games for 33 wickets in six innings.
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Mitchell Starc’s bowling heroics vs England batters
| Batter | Runs | Balls | Avg | Dismissals | Dots |
| B Duckett | 99 | 98 | 19.80 | 05 | 61 |
| B Stokes | 39 | 114 | 7.80 | 05 | 89 |
| Z Crawley | 76 | 124 | 19.0 | 04 | 84 |
| J Smith | 52 | 50 | 17.3 | 03 | 30 |
| J Root | 68 | 136 | 22.70 | 03 | 92 |
Mitchell Starc’s smartness & stamina leads Australia’s bowling
At the start of his career, Mitchell Starc was a lanky fast bowler full of promise but often prone to injuries and expensive spells. However, the 2025–26 Ashes series has come to define and crown his illustrious career.
For nearly eight years, Starc has been part of Australia’s four-man bowling core, where the absence of one has usually been covered by the others. However, that wasn’t the case in this Ashes series. Starc got one Test with Pat Cummins, while Nathan Lyon was part of one game effectively. Meanwhile, Josh Hazlewood spent the entire seven weeks at home on the treadmill.
In their collective absence, Starc shouldered the responsibility of leading the bowling with smartness and stamina. Throughout the five games, his pace never dropped and stayed in the mid-140s, despite bowling the third-most overs (153.1) in a series in his career.
“This group has shown that whilst there’s so much made about our age profile at times, that experience has been a really good thing in some moments of the series. If you’re still playing your role or if you’re still good enough, it shouldn’t matter how old you are. Our group does that really well and tailors programs or preparation for that,” Starc said in the press conference after the series victory.
Starc’s impact was felt most against England’s opening pair, particularly Ben Duckett. Duckett’s partnerships with Zak Crawley have been central to England’s success in the Bazball era, but Starc repeatedly disrupted that combination. He dismissed one of the openers in the first over of an innings on four occasions during the series. In total, nine of his wickets came against opening batters, with England’s highest opening being just 48, including two ducks.
Moreover, Starc’s batting in the lower order for Australia was exceptional. His 77 in Brisbane was a match-defining knock, which pushed the visitors to bat in twilight rather than building a lead during daylight. In Adelaide, his 54 helped Australia add 100 runs for the last three wickets in the first innings.
Starc consistently applied pressure on England and made them pay at crucial moments. Even with his 36th birthday approaching, he continues to look ahead to future challenges, including the next Ashes and the tour of India. This Player of the Series performance underlined the depth of his impact with both ball and bat, and it is for this series that his Ashes heroics should be remembered.
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