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Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc once again provided the team with a fantastic start and once again dismissed Zak Crawley in the first over of England's second innings. Earlier, the left-arm pacer had gotten Crawley's wicket on the final delivery of the first over and he went on to repeat the feat on the second occasion as well. The England batter once again failed to trouble the scores as Starc pulled off a stunning one-handed catch to send him back to the pavilion.
Talking about the catch, Starc dived to his left after Crawley had chipped the ball into the air and stuck his hand out to complete it perfectly. Though the catch was checked multiple times by third umpire Sharfuddoula, in the end the decision wernt in the favour of Australia.
Starc's record-breaking performance in Ashes opener
Meanwhile, this wicket saw Starc continue his fine run of form in the match. He had recorded figures of 7/58 in the first innings and had proven to be a one-man army as England could only manage to put up a total of 172 on the board. With this spell, not only did the 35-year-old reach 100 wickets in The Ashes, but also went on to record his career-best figures in the longest format.
England get back into the game
Despite a poor performance in their first innings, England fought back thanks to an incredible bowling display. Ben Stokes (5/23), Brydon Carse (3/45) and Jofra Archer (2/11) were the ones among the wickets as the Aussies could only put 132 runs on the board. A total of 19 wickets fell on the first day as bowlers from both sides completely dominated and it didn't take very long for England to pick up Australia's final wicket of the innings on Day 2. The visitors took a 40-run lead into their second innings and they will now be hoping to hand the hosts a formidable target.
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