Thursday, 04 December 2025
Thursday, 04 December 2025
By the end of Day 1 of the second Ashes Test on Thursday, the Gabba witnessed a landmark moment as Mitchell Starc rewrote a long-standing record in fast bowling.
The left-armer who has shaped many of Australia’s decisive moments under lights found himself stepping past a figure he had once grown up admiring.
Starc went past Wasim Akram’s 414 wickets to become the most successful left-arm fast bowler in Test cricket. The moment arrived when Harry Brook edged to Steve Smith in the slips.
It also brought up wicket number 415 for Starc at the ground where he had made his debut 14 years earlier.
He had begun the day two wickets shy of Akram. He ended it with six scalps, a haul that swelled his tally to 418 wickets in 102 Tests.
Akram had taken 104 matches to finish with 414.
The 35-year-old’s rise into the all-time list now places him 15th, nudging past Harbhajan Singh who had taken 417 in his Test career. The climb ahead presents Shaun Pollock on 421 and Richard Hadlee on 431.
The list of left-arm pacers now reads: Starc with 418, Akram with 414, Chaminda Vaas with 355 in 111 Tests, Trent Boult with 317 in 78 Tests and Mitchell Johnson with 313 in 73 Tests.
The hang of the evening suggested he was not merely scaling numbers.
His first over opened with Ben Duckett edging to Marnus Labuschagne for a golden duck. For Starc, it was the 26th occasion of a wicket taken in the first over of a Test innings. James Anderson, with 29, sits above him on that chart.
Moments later, Ollie Pope departed and Akram’s number had been equalled. Brook’s wicket completed the passage.
Starc’s wrist continued bending the England batters to his will as it had a week earlier when he took 7 for 58 in Perth.
The lights at the Gabba have often heightened his menace and his tally of over 80 wickets in day night Tests at an average a shade above 17 underscores why he is regarded as the Pink balls most decisive spearhead.
His Player of the Match return of ten wickets in the Ashes opener had already framed this series as one of his most telling phases.
The six wicket spell at the Gabba has now added permanence to his legacy.
