The South Africans had a disastrous start to their tour of Australia after the Proteas batting line-up was rattled through by the Aussie bowlers in the first Test at WACA. Earlier, skipper of the South African team Faf du Plessis had elected to bat first after winning the toss on a bouncy track. However, the decision turned out to be costly as South Africa lost their first four wickets in the span of just 12 overs.
Also read: Australia vs South Africa Live Scorecard
The demolition was initiated by the fiery pacer Mitchell Starc. The left-arm bowler struck right in the first over of the innings as he dismissed Proteas opener Stephen Cook in the fourth ball. Cook was forced to play a back of a length delivery that held its line around the off stump. The ball deflected off the outside edge and flew towards gully where Mitchell Marsh took a blinder by diving towards his left.
Cook's dismissal turned out to be Starc's 19th wicket in the first over of an innings since 2015. It's the most by any bowler till now, well past Lasith Malinga's record of 7 wickets. The Perth Test also marked the third consecutive Test in which the fast-bowler has struck in the first over of the innings. He had removed Dilruwan Perera with the fourth ball in Sri Lanka's second innings in the third Test in Colombo and Dimuth Karunaratne with the first ball in Sri Lanka's first innings in the second Test in Galle earlier this year.
Also read: Combating Mitchell Starc is the key, says Faf du Plessis
Starc's record of 19 wickets in the first over of an innings includes 11 first-over dismissals in ODIs, seven in Test matches and one in T20s.
Starc made his debut in 2010 and has picked up 117 wickets in Tests, 110 in ODIs and 30 wickets in T20s. The South African skipper had earlier said that if they were to have any chance of winning the series, it would surely depend on how well they played Starc.
| Serial Number | Bowler | Nationality | Number of wickets | Number of innings taken |
| 1. | Mitchell Starc | Australia | 19 | 53 |
| 2. | Lasith Malinga | Sri Lanka | 7 | 14 |
| 3. | Dawlat Zadran | Afghanistan | 7 | 20 |
| 4. | David Willey | England | 7 | 25 |
| 5. | Dhammika Prasad | Sri Lanka | 6 | 15 |
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