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Mitchell Starc said he always looks to bowl aggressively after claiming seven wickets on the opening day of the first Ashes Test between Australia and England. The 35-year-old was a dominant force at Perth Stadium, ripping through England with figures of 7-58 to help the hosts dismiss the Ben Stokes-led side for 172.
England hit back with their own pace attack, leaving Australia wobbling at 123-9 by stumps on Day 1 and keeping the contest finely balanced. Ben Stokes claimed the best bowling figures for England on the day as he picked five wickets for 23 runs. Notably, Starc made an immediate impact by removing England opener Zak Crawley in the very first over of the match. Since his debut, Starc has claimed more wickets in the first over of an innings than any other bowler, with a total of 24. Starc said that while taking a wicket in the first over is always the aim, it doesn't always work out. He added that he's been lucky to manage it several times and that his role has always been to stay aggressive and hunt for wickets. "I mean, it's always the plan, isn't it? But it doesn't always happen that way. I've just been pretty fortunate to have done it a few times. But it's always been my role to be aggressive, look for wickets," Starc told reporters after the day's play. "I've never been one to worry about economy rates. My role is to go looking for wickets, especially with the new ball, and hopefully make inroads into the opposition," he said. Starc said he remained calm despite Australia missing injured quicks Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. He emphasised that the bowling attack still had solid experience, pointing to Scott Boland's familiarity with the setup and Brendan Doggett's strong domestic background heading into his debut Test. "Actually, strangely, I've been quite calm all week, even when we got to the ground. It's unfortunate that we haven't got Josh and Pat with us, but we still have a fair bit of experience in the bowling attack. Scott's been around for a while. Brendan, it's his first Test, but he's 31, he has played fair bit of domestic cricket and done quite well," Starc said. Starc praised both sides' bowling, saying each attack performed strongly throughout a day that produced 19 wickets. "Two pretty good bowling attacks. Credit to both. I mean, I thought we bowled pretty well, and I thought they bowled pretty nicely. So I think it's just one of those days where you get two attacks that are on the money for the whole day, and we sit here with 19 wickets down. But it's two innings of cricket and a long time left in this series," Starc added. (ANI)
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