Talisman Mitchell Starc adds final flourishes to his imperious Ashes series | Geoff Lemon

It was right that Mitchell Starc had to clear the last two English wickets of these Ashes. It’s also good that Travis Head still has a few runs to clear, but for all the fun that Head brings with his Jayasuriya-lite batting and his Boon-lite persona, the difference in the series has been the other left-hander. The fifth morning of the Sydney Test took Starc to 31 wickets at 19, and going over 30 is the stuff of great Ashes series. Sixteen other Australians have done it, a list mainly made up of players who need to be identified only by surname.

Just as teachers meet you as an adult, some people are stuck with a memory of Starc as he was in the beginning: a lanky possessor of promise at risk of becoming wayward, expensive, or wounded. In the manner of true fast bowlers, he is seen as part animal, part force of nature: his achievements are elements of abandonment, not the work of brain and skill. He is therefore admired while still being regarded as cattle. For example, Gandalf’s horse is great, but it’s still a horse.

Hopefully that perception continues to change, as it should have done more and more in recent years. It has become Australia’s most durable speedster and much more consistent in accuracy and performance. Thursday’s two wickets took Starc to 433 for his career, past Richard Hadlee, level with Rangana Herath, one behind Kapil Dev. Another seven would take him past Dale Steyn into the top 10 wicket-takers of all time.

Then there is the current Ashes series, which, when all is said and done, could crown that enormous career. For eight years, Starc has carried out national duties within the comfort of a four-man bowling operation: their 35 Tests combined far surpass any other cricket quartet. Even if one is missing, the others make it feel like home. Until this series: Starc got one test from Pat Cummins, actually one from Nathan Lyon, while Josh Hazlewood stayed on the treadmill at home.

During their collective absence, he took on the responsibility of leading the way and bowling with smarts and stamina. All five Tests, and his third most overs in a series. His pace never dropped, remaining in the mid-140s in metric terms until his final period. He occasionally swung the new ball, poked it the other way using a wobble seam and delivered ruthless accuracy, constantly threatening the outside edges of the right-handers with off-length balls and working the left-handers inside with his angle.

Then you take his runs into account: the 77 in Brisbane was the match-defining one, after England had made a decent score in the first innings and had Australia within reach. Rather than building a lead in daylight, Starc instead forced England to fall behind significantly at dusk. At Adelaide, Australia were well under par on the first innings, only because Starc’s 54 was part of adding an even hundred runs for the last three wickets, and soaked up part of the second day in the 40C and avoided some time in the heat.

The calculation is this: Australia would probably have won Perth, and perhaps Adelaide and Sydney, while someone else would have batted where Head made his hundreds. Without Starc, Australia would probably have lost the first two Tests and possibly the third.

Of particular note was how he suppressed England’s opening partnership and how he broke Ben Duckett. After a few excellent years in Tests and one-day cricket, Duckett had developed into one of England’s few bankers. His partnership with Zak Crawley was a key part of England’s plan, given the way the pair had been able to put pressure on Australia at home in 2023 with attacking strokeplay from the jump.

Four times Starc knocked one or the other over in the first over of an innings, including both times in Perth to set the tone. Nine of his wickets in total came from the two openers. Their partnerships were 0, 0, 5, 48, 37, 4, 7, 51, 35 and 4.

The 51 did help England get their win in Melbourne as the chase was so low, but Duckett’s contribution was sloppy and ended with his boot being blown off by a Starc Yorker several levels in the class above the defense in front of it. Overall, the opener was crushed and could not get away even when he made starts. Six times he was between 20 and 42 and never got further than the latter. Crawley ultimately had the better run despite averaging 27, with his scores of 76 and 85 at least providing some support in Brisbane and Adelaide.

In short, Starc took the oxygen out of England’s top order, allowing him to work in the middle. He got Joe Root three, Ben Stokes five, and only half a dozen of his wickets came against the bowlers.

Head stood out with his 629 runs, but so did Starc with some gems: the swing back to Crawley’s pad in Sydney, the drive through Stokes’ gate in Adelaide. The player of the series rating needs more depth than just who topped the score. Mitchell Starc should be remembered for this.