Starc torments England with the bat in 2nd Ashes test

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Mitchell Starc tormented England with the bat on Saturday to add another facet to his dominance so far in this Ashes series, leading the scoring for Australia as it took a 177-run first-innings lead in the day-night match at the Gabba.

The 35-year-old pace bowler scored 77 off 141 balls, his highest test score since 2016, and guided Australia to 511 late in the middle session on Day 3 in the second test, replying to England's 334.

For just the third time in almost 150 years of test cricket, all 11 Australian batters reached double figures in a test innings. Starc's was one of five half-centuries, following opener Jake Weatherald (72), No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne (65), stand-in skipper Steve Smith (61) and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey (63).

England had a tricky half-hour to navigate before the end of the middle session with the lights on and the sun going down. Starc missed out on a wicket in the first over of the innings for the first time in the series, and England's openers dug in.

He's the leading bowler in the series so far with 16 wickets — he took a 10-wicket haul in the series-opening win at Perth, where Australia wrapped it up on Day 2.

At the break, England was 45 without loss, with Zak Crawley on 26 and Ben Duckett on 13.

Australia injected some conventional test cricket into the series on Day 3 at the Gabba, batting through almost two sessions in natural light in a bid to grind England down ahead of the night session. The Australians added 133 runs for the last four wickets after resuming Saturday at 378-6.

The grind

Starc went into bat in the fourth over Saturday at the end of a 54-run seventh-wicket partnership between overnight batters Carey and Michael Neser.

Starc batted for more than 2 ½ hours for his best test score against England, guiding a 75-run partnership with No. 10 Scott Boland, a record for a ninth-wicket stand at the Gabba.

While no Australian batters went on to post centuries, three England bowlers conceded triple figures. Brydon Carse took four wickets for 152 runs in 29 overs. Skipper Ben Stokes returned 3-113 in 24 overs and Gus Atkinson took figures of 1-114 off 28. Pace spearhead Jofra Archer took 1-87 and Will Jacks, the only spinner in the match, had 1-34 in 12, taking the last Australian wicket to fall.

For most of the day, Starc was in the thick of it. He took Australia’s lead to 150 with a perfect drive straight down the ground off Atkinson and moved to 75 with another drive over long-on, becoming the highest scorer in the Australian innings.

He was hit in the back by the ball as Carse fired it at the non-striker’s end with the Australian batter running for a single. Soon after, he reached for a ball from Carse and heaved a tired shot into the outfield where Stokes narrowly avoided a collision with Duckett to take the catch.

Starc's 77 was his highest test score since 2016 and his highest ever against England.

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