007! Joe Root starts the Ashes on worst possible note as Mitchell Starc gets him for a duck in Perth

After taking Joe Root's wicket, Mitchell Starc completed 100 wickets in Ashes history.

Despite being perhaps the best Test batter of his generation, Joe Root’s Ashes started with the kind of fashion that England dread and Australia secretly wait for. Seven balls, no runs, no boundary, and a thick edge that flew straight to Marnus Labuschagne. The scoreboard read 0(7), which meant Root walked off with the full “007” tag next to his name on the opening morning in Perth.

Starc gets Joe Root

His duck once again continued to roar of Joe Root’s poor returns in Australia despite him being a world beater everywhere else. Mitchell Starc, leading the attack with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood both injured, bowled like a man who had been waiting for this stage. He removed Zak Crawley in the first over before also trapping Ben Duckett in front of the stumps.

When Root arrived, the left-armer went after him straight away. The ball that got him wasn’t outrageous, but it was good enough: 142.8 kph, starting on the leg, straightening just enough to kiss the edge. It was also Starc’s 100th Ashes wicket, making him the first left-arm quick in history to reach the landmark.

Root’s Australia problem refuses to go away

Root has been exceptional everywhere else, but Australia continues to be the stubborn outlier in his career. He averages over 51 across 159 Tests but only around the mid-thirties in Australia. In his overall Test career apart from Australia, Root averages almost 53.

Perth felt like a continuation of that narrative rather than any sort of reset. This was also the ninth time Starc has dismissed him in Tests, and four of those have come in Australia. Only Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah have got him more often. England had chosen to bat on a surface that looked lively early, and the decision aged badly within the first 45 minutes. The bounce, the new-ball seam, and Starc’s rhythm combined to rip through the top order before Ben Stokes could settle into the day. At Lunch on Day 1, England’s score read 105/4.

Joe Root Test record: Overall vs in Australia