Joe Root out for a seven-ball duck, extending his century drought in Australia
Mitchell Starc claims Crawley, Duckett, and Root, reaching 100 Ashes wickets
Australia bowls England out for 172, keeping them under pressure from the first over despite missing key bowlers
Joe Root began the Ashes 2025-26 under familiar pressure as one of England’s most important Test batsmen over the past five years. All eyes were on the 34-year-old to see if he could finally end his Australian drought, but at Optus Stadium in Perth, Root’s hunt for a century Down Under continued in harsh fashion.
Root’s innings lasted just seven balls as he was dismissed for a duck, marking his 14th in Test cricket, sixth in the Ashes, and ninth against Australia across formats.
He jabbed at a delivery seaming in from leg stump by Mitchell Starc with a closed bat face and edged it thickly to third slip. Marnus Labuschagne dived low, chest nearly grazing the turf, and managed to hold on despite the ball popping out momentarily.
England’s start had already been shaky, with Zak Crawley failing to get past the first over and Ben Duckett offering some resistance with four boundaries before falling to Starc.
Root’s duck adds to a long list of players who have struggled against Australia.
He now sits alongside Virat Kohli, Brian Lara, Stephen Fleming, Muttiah Muralitharan, Allan Donald, Alec Stewart, and Morne Morkel, all dismissed for a duck on nine occasions against the hosts. The record is still topped by Courtney Walsh with 16 ducks, followed by India’s Ishant Sharma with 13.
Starc, meanwhile, celebrated a personal milestone. By claiming Root’s wicket, he became the first left-arm seamer to reach 100 wickets in Ashes Tests and joined an elite group of 21 bowlers to achieve the feat.
His strike rate of 44.8 remains the best among all bowlers with 100 or more wickets in Ashes history. While Scott Boland struggled to find consistency with the new ball, Starc’s control and pace kept England’s batsmen under pressure from the outset.
Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith after the toss said.
"I probably would have batted too. Hopefully it seams all over the place this morning. The cracks will come into play; they seem to every year. That was the thinking behind bowling first. If we get the ball in the right areas, there’ll definitely be enough in it," he said.
Smith also praised Boland and Brendan Doggett for stepping up in the absence of senior pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
Perth witnessed a dramatic start to the Ashes, one dominated by Starc’s firepower but also a sobering reminder of Joe Root’s ongoing struggles Down Under. England will need their middle order to regroup quickly if they are to recover from this early setback and challenge the hosts in the first Test.
