Mitchell Starc, one of the finest left-arm seamers in the history of cricket, is undoubtedly among the greatest bowlers of all time in ODI cricket. In the Test format too, the left-arm pacer has been a constant feature for Australia for the large part of the last decade and led their pace attack splendidly along with the likes of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
The pacer has been part of some of Australia’s finest moments and their greatest triumphs in Tests, including clinching the World Test Championship once.
Here in this piece, let us look into his performances against different teams in Test cricket.
Mitchell Starc Test Wickets Against Teams
| Opposition | Innings | Wickets | BBI | Average | 5W/10W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 42 | 97 | 6/111 | 27.37 | 4/0 |
| India | 43 | 66 | 6/48 | 35.84 | 1/0 |
| New Zealand | 19 | 37 | 5/52 | 26.65 | 1/0 |
| Pakistan | 28 | 54 | 6/66 | 30.00 | 1/0 |
| South Africa | 17 | 42 | 6/154 | 28.86 | 2/0 |
| Sri Lanka | 17 | 51 | 6/50 | 19.43 | 6/2 |
| West Indies | 14 | 29 | 4/28 | 21.31 | 0/0 |
| Overall | 180 | 376 | 6/48 | 27.78 | 15/2 |
Key Stats
4: The number of opponents against whom Australia’s pace spearhead has taken 50 or more wickets in Test cricket. Off the 372 wickets, Starc has taken 97 against the arch-rivals England at an average of 27.37 with four 5-wicket hauls.
He is 8 wickets shy of reaching the mark against South Africa as well. Addition to that, he is among the top five list of left-arm bowlers with most Test wickets.
Overall, the left-arm pacer has picked by 15 five-wicket hauls & 2 ten-wicket match hauls. He has taken a special liking to Sri Lanka as both his 10-wicket hauls and six of his five-wicket innings hauls have come against them.
48.26: This is Mitchell Starc’s career bowling strike rate and even in this metric, his best has been against Sri Lanka (33.43).
11/91: This is Starc’s best bowling performance in a Test match and it came against Sri Lanka at Galle back in 2016. Though it came in a losing cause for Australia, it remains his finest Test match performance. The other time he picked a 10-wicket haul in a Test match was also against Sri Lanka (10/100) at Manuka Oval in 2019.
6/48: The pacer’s best figures in Tests came against India in the latest pink-ball Test match that took place at Adelaide. This was also his first 5-wicket haul versus India in Tests.
74: Number of wickets Starc has picked in day-night pink-ball Tests, the most by any bowler in history.
24: The tally of wickets he took in a single Test series against Sri Lanka, away from home. This is the most wickets taken by Starc in a given series and it came at an average of 15.17 in just three Tests. Find out the 10 instances of bowlers taking the most wickets in a Test series here.
