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The English team's struggle against bowlers named Mitchell stretches back a considerable period.

It began with Mitchell Johnson's ferocity in 2013-14, and has persisted through the magical left-arm pace of Starc.

In the 2025-26 Ashes series, Starc has claimed 26 wickets - stepping up in the unavailability of pace colleagues often more vaunted.

Four more scalps in the final Test in Sydney and his series tally will be the highest by any bowler in an Ashes series since Johnson over a decade ago.

The Path to Resilience Led To Multiple Seasons of Starc

The peak period for Starc - the 35-year-old has also outscored three of England's top order with the bat - is the peak of a Test career established through longevity, bowling prowess and a eagerness to improve.

Over the past month and a half he has surpassed a host of bowling legends and, most significantly, the great Wasim Akram on the all-time Test wicket-takers' list.

By eclipsing Wasim, Starc became the highest wicket-taking left-arm fast bowler in Test history.

And when he takes the field at his home ground for the fifth Test this week, it will be the 27th straight Australia Test in a row in which he has featured - a broader streak of four Tests missed from the past fifty-six.

The era of a young Starc being told to "show more resilience" by then Australia coach Tim Nielsen are a thing of the past.

"Back then it might have pricked him a little bit and that is likely the role to challenge players and to try and get them to be more robust than they have been in the past," Nielsen said.

"This was likely one of the discussions you have with a lot of rookie quicks, especially when they start to break into international cricket.

"There were a couple of times where he said he was a bit uncomfortable and might need a rest.

"The message was simple than 'I think it's time we have got to find out how much your body can take before it breaks rather than pulling up in case it breaks.'"

What Makes Starc So Hard to Face?

Such is the change, Australia coach Andrew McDonald has discussed the prospect of Starc, the most senior of the world-class pace trio, touring England for the 2027 Ashes, by which time he will be 37.

The legendary Ray Lindwall, who played his last match in 1960, was the most recent Australian fast bowler to wear a baggy green beyond his 37th year.

Achieving this would give Starc the chance to follow James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Glenn McGrath and Courtney Walsh and become only the fifth pace bowler to take 500 wickets.

Longevity can get you only part of the way. To join that club, you must be lethal too.

"The strange thing, even though he is so brilliant, is that at the top of his mark you can discern what he is trying to do," says former England batter Dawid Malan.

"It remains necessary to be able to play it but you can notice when he is bowling the wobble seam, see when he is attempting to swing the ball."

There have been times in Starc's career when he has been criticised for leaking runs, something with which he has said he has come to terms.

That weakness is massively outweighed by his remarkable skill to take wickets.

Of the leading wicket-takers to have taken more than 350 in Tests, only two modern greats have done so with a more frequent wicket-taking rate than Starc's.

He may leak runs, but the average number of balls he needs to take a wicket is incredibly efficient.

"The difficult aspect is I always felt like I was settled against him," Malan explained.

"It seemed I was picking up the ball easily because he has such a nice action, you can see the ball and there are good pitches in Australia but one in every 10 balls he'd bowl an unplayable delivery and you would just be heading to the pavilion.

"At other times, I wouldn't say you relax but you think 'I'm on top here.'

"He will bowl a half volley because he has experimented, bowl a cut ball and then abruptly bowls a ball that starts on middle and hits the off stump.

"He has just always got that wicket-taking ball. If you don't respect him each and every delivery he just has the ability of getting you out."

A Renaissance Founded On Fresh Skills

Although he no longer bowls at the 99mph heights of his second Test these days, Starc's typical speed has remained consistently around 87 miles per hour throughout the latter part of his career.

An talent he held from the outset shows no indication of declining.

"His height was notable, proper tall, and had exceptional pace through the air which was remarkable," Nielsen recalled.

"Additionally, he could move the ball back into the right-handed batsman."

Moving the ball in the air and targeting the toes, pads or grille was, like other great left-armers before him, Starc's main approach during the first two-thirds of his career.

But, after being omitted during the 2019 Ashes tour, Starc added the wobble seam delivery to his armoury by the time he came back to England in 2023.

No-one in the world has taken as many as Starc's 118 Test wickets since the beginning of that 2023 series. Even Indian pace ace Jasprit Bumrah trails by 12.

The wobble seam has been a major factor.

"Starc just shows you can teach an old job new tricks," says former Australia pace bowler Jason Gillespie.

"He studied a lot of Stuart Broad and James Anderson and consulted with them about it.

"For a player aged 34 or 35 to evolve his game is remarkable."

The wobbler has added greater mystery to Starc's game.

When delivering the ball with a wobble seam rather than looking to swing it, some deliveries jag unpredictably off the surface after pitching. Others will hold its line and find the edge of the bat.

Two of England's top batsmen both fell to Starc wobble seam deliveries in the opening hour of this series.

Starc's number of dismissals caught in the slips has risen by almost ten percent in the past few years.

"The crucial element to the wobble seam ball is to have your wrist position right aligned with the ball and let go of the ball off your middle finger," Gillespie said.

"With the wobble seam Mitchell Starc will grip the ball with the seam angled towards the off side.

"Upon release at the correct moment it will wobble down the pitch and that generates uncertainty for the batter.

"He has diligently practicing at developing that because he feels that wobble seam going away brings the slip fielders into play and makes his inswinger to the right hander more of a surprise."

England's torment by Mitchells may go on for some time yet.