The Ashes: Australian quick Mitchell Starc catching breath after day of ‘fast forward’ cricket to open series

Mitchell Starc says the opening day of the first Ashes Test felt as if it was in “fast-forward”. For half the day, he was the man with his hand on the remote. Starc took a career-best haul of 7-58 from 12.5 overs to lead a rout of England for just 172. But an Aussie collapse — for the second year in a row at Optus Stadium — has left them 9-123 and behind the eight-ball after the opening day. The 19 wickets that fell on Friday are the most ever on an opening day in Perth, beating last year’s previous record of 17. Asked how he would describe the day, Starc said: “probably fast-forward I guess. It’s happening quickly”. He put that down to good bowling, rather than a dicey wicket or poor batting. “I thought both teams bowled pretty well for the 19 wickets,” Starc said. “Last year it was a 17-wicket day, this year it’s 19 wickets — we often sit here and say it’s the wicket, or it’s the batting. “But I think both teams bowled really well. We knew how England wanted to take the game on and their approach of being aggressive. That creates opportunities and I thought we bowled quite well. “Even in a period there where it felt like it was helter-skelter, we still bowled them out for 172. I’m sure both teams want to change their way of their approach but I think you can sit here and say it was pretty good bowling from both teams.” It has taken the prospect of a draw almost completely out of the question and means that England will bat again — likely before lunch — on Saturday. That could mean a turnaround of one night and less than two sessions for an Australian pace battery missing captain Pat Cummins and star Josh Hazlewood. Starc said the new-look unit was up to it. “It is what it is, sometimes you’re faced with that,” he said. “I’ve played long enough to have trained the body to need to do that if I have to. “Obviously, you always like to sit back and watch your team bat, sometimes you have short turnarounds, there will be other days where you’re in the field for a long time and it’s just the nature of Test cricket and a tough day’s work for both batting groups.”