Mitchell Starc is leading Australia’s bowling attack against England in the fifth and final Test of the 2025-26 Ashes series. The left-arm pacer, who sits at the No. 2 position in the ICC Test bowler’s ranking, picked up one wicket on Day 1 of the ongoing Test at Sydney Cricket Ground and added one more wicket to his tally on Monday morning (January 5) by getting the better of England’s Test captain, Ben Stokes.

Stokes, who came out to bat at No. 6 for the visitors in the first innings of the Sydney Test, was caught behind by Alex Carey for an 11-ball duck on the fifth ball of the 51st over.
This was the fifth time in the 2025-26 Ashes that Starc has managed to take Stokes’ wicket.

Overall, Starc has dismissed Stokes 14 times in Tests now, which is the most by any bowler.

He went past Ravichandran Ashwin’s tally. Ashwin, who retired from Test cricket in December 2024, dismissed Stokes 13 times in Test cricket during his 14-year-long Test career.

In the list of bowlers who have picked up Stokes’ wicket most times in Test cricket, Starc and Ashwin are followed by Nathan Lyon (10) and Ravindra Jadeja (8).

The wicket of Stokes on Monday was Starc’s 28th dismissal of the ongoing series and overall 430th in Test cricket. He needs to take at least four more wickets in the ongoing match to break former Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath’s record and become the most successful left-arm bowler in the history of Test cricket.

Left-arm spinner Herath played 93 Tests for Sri Lanka from 1999 to 2018 and dismissed 433 batters.

100 for Root
Root is England’s greatest batter of all time, and on Monday, he scored his 41st century in Test cricket for the English team.

The right-handed batter from Yorkshire reached the 100-run mark by running two on the first ball of the 60th over of England’s first inning,s bowled by fast bowler Michael Neser.