Australia pacer Mitchell Starc scripted history in the third Test against West Indies in Jamaica as he grabbed 5 wickets in just 2.3 overs. The veteran pacer, playing his 100th Test for Australia, breathed fire with the pink ball while his teammate Scott Boland claimed a stunning hat-trick as Australia’s pace attack ripped through the West Indies, dismissing them for just 27 runs. Though the West Indies didn’t break New Zealand’s record of the lowest total in a single Test innings, Starc himself managed to register a World Record to his name. No player in world cricket has ever managed to take a 5-wicket haul in fewer deliveries.
The previous record was held jointly held by Ernie Toshack of Australia who had claimed a 5-for against India in 19 balls in 1947, and two others. Stuart Broad of England and Scott Boland of Australia have also claimed fifers in 19 balls.
Courtesy of his figures of 6 for 9, He has now joined the elite list of Australians (Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Nathan Lyon) to have taken 400 or more Test wickets. Now the left-armer has 402 Test wickets and is placed at the fourth spot among the all-time leading wicket-takers for the Aussies in the longest format of the game.
Imposing, relentless and ever-present with ball in hand
Mitchell Starc becomes the fourth Australian to reach 400 Test wickets thanks to another scintillating spell #WIvAUS https://t.co/7an5FwsUdF#WTC27 pic.twitter.com/yYVbvuyrux
— ICC (@ICC) July 14, 2025
The total of 27 is just one more run than the lowest Test total ever, when England bowled New Zealand out for 26 in 1955.
Starc had figures of 3/0 after his first over, and the target of 204 set by Australia looked out of reach when Starc’s fifth left the hosts in a hole at 7/5.
Starc’s 15-ball blitz broke Ernie Toshack’s record for the fewest balls to a five-wicket haul set back in 1945, and there was no respite for the West Indies who then faced the wrath of Boland (3/2), who claimed Justin Greaves, Shamar Joseph and Jomel Warrican in successive deliveries.
Joseph and Warrican joined five other West Indians with ducks next to their name on the scorecard, with Starc’s sixth scalp, clean bowling Jayden Seales, finishing off the job in just 14.3 overs.
With ANI Inputs