A relentless Mitchell Starc turns the Gabba into an Ashes Death Star for Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Brendon McCullum and the England side against Australia

With the match still delicately balanced, this was a juncture where Starc decided it was time to give up. When he joined Boland, Starc initially intended to bat only, bowl singles and only occasionally find the boundary.

Not only could he see the sun starting to set, but also how tired England’s 118th over was from the innings. Every time a ball beat the bat or a fielder’s edge was crooked, Stokes reacted as if no captain had ever suffered such bad luck: Starc decided to keep him there.

Gradually, and in the old-fashioned Test batting style that has been almost entirely absent from the series so far, Starc and Boland became more comfortable and began to score more freely. Their job was made easier when Stokes more or less gave up on sacking Starc, spreading the pitch and, uncharacteristically, letting things go.

This was partly due to the warmth of the Gabba, the length of the innings, but also the hard work of Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Carey before Starc came into the middle. In the seven comment boxes, Simon Katich pointed out the first session of the second day.

“You can’t blame Ben Stokes’ efforts and leading from the front, but yesterday, after about half an hour of the crap they were serving up, he asked the leadership to bring them in and say, ‘Guys this isn’t good enough,'” Katich said.

“We bowled too short and too wide, let’s keep it disciplined for a while and build some pressure that way. The problem is, it happened at half-time and then after half-time they started with some discipline, but it was too late; that horse had run away.”

As the tea break approached, Starc opened his shoulders with a series of rasping movements and when the second session restarted, he moved to 50 with a sharp shot from Will Jacks’ sparing turn.

In short, a century looked possible – Starc is certainly good enough to have one; This is supported by how he overtook Stuart Broad (whose highest score was 169) for the most runs in Test history (from ninth in the rankings). Starc looked dejected when he finally slid the catch towards mid-on, Stokes and Ben Duckett narrowly avoiding the collision by seizing the chance.

But his combination of skill and common sense turned a somewhat optimistic day for England into one in which the tourists’ hopes were dashed and also inspired Boland and Doggett to add their own frustrating 20-over stand before the final wicket fell.

This partnership also meant that all 11 members of the Australian side reached double figures for the first time since 1992 and only the third time. It was an ensemble work, but there was no doubt that the leading role was once again played by Starc.

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