{"id":284948,"date":"2025-11-14T23:26:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T23:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284948\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T23:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T23:26:18","slug":"from-harmison-to-starc-more-first-ball-folklore-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284948\/","title":{"rendered":"From Harmison to Starc, more first-ball folklore awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Starc doesn’t play favourites with his wickets, but when it comes to Ashes folklore there is only one standout.<\/p>\n

Starc will arrive in Perth on Sunday to begin his 15th summer as a Test quick, with few bowlers in world cricket having taken as many memorable international wickets as him.<\/p>\n

The left-armer’s yorker to bowl Brendon McCullum in the 2015 World Cup final is likely his most replayed delivery, especially given the form England’s current coach was in at the time for New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The ball that knocked over Ben Stokes at Lord’s in the 2019 World Cup is arguably Starc’s best ever, particularly with the way it tailed in late and killed off England’s chances.<\/p>\n

But in terms of tone-setters after months of build up, it’s hard to go past Starc taking Rory Burns’ leg stump on the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes.<\/p>\n

“I’ve certainly never heard a noise like it at the Gabba,” Starc told AAP.<\/p>\n

“Any wicket is my favourite. Those ones are all very different. World Cups are huge.<\/p>\n

“And lead ups make things feel different as well. Different formats, different lead ups, different stages. But they’re all very satisfying.”<\/p>\n

\"Burns\"<\/p>\n

Rory Burns turns around to see his stumps broken first ball of the Test. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

For as long as Starc has been alive, there has always been a story about the first ball of the Ashes.<\/p>\n

Michael Slater’s powerful cut shot from a Phil DeFreitas loosener set the tone in 1994-95, while in 2002-03 it was when Nasser Hussain sent Australia in to bat.<\/p>\n

Steve Harmison’s wide to second slip in 2006-07 remains the most memorable of all, kicking off a series where England relinquished the urn and lost 5-0.<\/p>\n

\"harmison\"<\/p>\n

England bowler Steve Harmison after sending his opening delivery of the Ashes to second slip. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n

Two-and-a-half years ago it was Zak Crawley’s perfect cover drive that sent a Pat Cummins delivery flying to the boundary, after months of talk about BazBall.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot made about the first ball (in 2023), but in the end we won the Test match,” Starc said.<\/p>\n

“And it was the same bloke who bowled the ball who won it for us.<\/p>\n

“It does leave a mark I guess, you think the Harmison ball, you think the cover drive that the English like to make a lot of.<\/p>\n

“But ultimately we will sit here at the end of the Sydney Test and say this worked and this didn’t work, what was successful.”<\/p>\n

If Australia do bowl first on Friday at Optus Stadium, Starc insists the Burns ball won’t be going through his mind as he stands at the top of his mark at 10.20am (Perth time).<\/p>\n

But one could almost guarantee it will be in the memory of most Australian and English fans watching on either side of the world.<\/p>\n

“It’s a long way down the track. It’s a different venue, and different too in that I am probably bowling to Zak Crawley,” Starc said.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully it starts the same way, but as Josh and I would both attest to we would love to bat all day on day one.<\/p>\n

“But if it comes to bowling first, the big fella and I will aim to do some damage in the first spell and hopefully set us on our way to a successful series.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitchell Starc doesn’t play favourites with his wickets, but when it comes to Ashes folklore there is only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,31024,44,164619,160510],"class_list":{"0":"post-284948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mitchell-starc","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-rory-burns","13":"tag-steve-harmison"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}