Mitchell Starc makes Test history with 4th first-ball wicket, passes Dale Steyn on all-time list

Queensland: Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc cemented his status as red-ball cricket’s ultimate strike bowler by becoming the first bowler in Test history to take a wicket with the opening delivery of a match on four separate occasions.

The historic milestone arrived on Day 1 of the second Test against Bangladesh at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay. Starc set the tone immediately after Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to field. Bowling the very first delivery of the match, Starc unleashed a razor-sharp, swinging ball to Bangladeshi opener Shadman Islam, who played across the line and edged straight to Cameron Green in the gully.

The opening-ball strike broke a world record that Starc previously held alongside former West Indies fast bowler Pedro Collins, who claimed three first-ball wickets during his international career.

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Starc’s lethal reputation for striking instantly with the brand-new ball spans a decade of international cricket. Starc’s quartet of first-ball dismissals began in 2016 when he removed Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne at Galle. He repeated the feat during the 2021 Ashes series opener at the Gabba by clean-bowling England’s Rory Burns, before trapping India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal leg-before-wicket on the first ball in Adelaide in December 2024. Shadman’s dismissal in Mackay completed the historic fourth.

The record-breaking delivery triggered a devastating spell from the Australian left-arm quick. Starc proceeded to dismantle the Bangladeshi batting line-up, claiming five wickets in just 22 deliveries to record the sixth-fastest five-wicket haul in Test match history. Starc finished the innings with astonishing figures of 6 for 12 as Bangladesh collapsed to 64 all out in 34 overs.

In addition to his first-ball record, Starc's six-wicket blitz took his career Test tally to 441 wickets, surpassing South Africa great Dale Steyn to enter the top ten on the all-time Test wicket-takers list.