Kagiso Rabada's masterclass at Lord's helped South Africa bowl out Australia for 212 in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, but a magnificent fightback by the defending champions, led by Mitchell Starc's lethal spell, ensured Australia still ended the day on top.

The Australian pacers came out all guns blazing and reduced South Africa to 43-4 at stumps on Day 1. Mitchell Starc got the innings off to a blazing start and dismissed Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton before Pat Cummins got rid of Wiaan Mulder, and Josh Hazlewood bamboozled Tristan Stubbs.

Australia have been magnificent in ICC events, and Starc has played a major role in their juggernaut. The fearsome pacer brings out his best when it matters the most and almost every time puts Australia on the brink of a win. The wicket of Rickelton helped Starc create a historic record in ICC events.

Starc now holds the record of most wickets by a bowler in ICC finals. The record was previously held by Mohammed Shami, who picked 10 wickets in six innings, and Starc leapfrogged him in the WTC final.

Starc took two wickets in the ODI World Cup final against New Zealand in 2015, and bagged a four-fer in the WTC 2023 final against India. He also took three wickets in the ODI World Cup 2023 final against India before taking two wickets in the ongoing WTC final.

Player	Wickets	Innings
Mitchell Starc	11	6
Mohammed Shami	10	6
Trent Boult	8	5
Ravindra Jadeja	8	10
Kyle Jamieson	8	3

Meanwhile, Starc also took his wickets tally in the WTC 2023-2025 to 74, joining Pat Cummins at the second position. The record for most wickets in the current WTC cycle is held by Jasprit Bumrah, who took 77 wickets. Starc also leapfrogged Ian Botham (383) in the list of most wickets in Test cricket, and took his tally to 384 scalps in the format.

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