Mitchell Starc became the leading wicket-taker in the history of the World Test Championship after a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Mackay, moving past Pat Cummins on the all-time list during a Test series that swung wildly in both directions before finishing drawn 1-1.
The record-breaking spell
Starc took 6 for 12 in Bangladesh’s first innings and followed it with 4 for 39 in the second, a match haul of ten wickets that took his overall WTC tally past Cummins to the top of the list. Later figures put him at 234 wickets in the competition at an average of 24.25, with 11 four-wicket hauls and eight five-wicket hauls to his name, and career-best figures of 7 for 58. Within the current 2025-27 WTC cycle alone, he sits on 58 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 16.98.
Context: a series Australia nearly lost at home
The record arrived against the backdrop of an unusually difficult series for Australia. The two-match series, played from August 13-26, began with a shock defeat that marked Australia’s first-ever home Test loss to Bangladesh, a result that stunned the home crowd and prompted immediate scrutiny of the top order’s form. Starc’s fightback in the second Test, described by multiple outlets as a “vengeful” and “brutal” ten-wicket haul, was central to squaring the series 1-1 and denying Bangladesh a historic series win on Australian soil.
Individual honors from a rollercoaster series
Starc was named Player of the Series for his 12 wickets across the two Tests, while also delivering the individual milestone of the WTC’s all-time wicket-taking record in the same match. Shoriful Islam, Bangladesh’s pace bowler, also had a standout series, claiming a maiden five-wicket haul in Tests and recording career-best figures of 7 for 48 — the best bowling figures ever recorded by a Bangladeshi pacer — underlining that the series was not solely defined by Starc’s exploits.
How the record is being read in Australia and beyond
Australian commentators have framed Starc’s record as the culmination of a long, injury-interrupted career in which his left-arm pace and ability to swing the new ball have made him a fixture of the Test side for over a decade, with some pundits noting that the six-wicket burst against Bangladesh was one of his most clinical spells in years. Bangladesh’s camp, while conceding Starc’s brilliance, has instead pointed to Shoriful Islam’s emergence and the historic first Test win in Darwin as the bigger story of the series for their cricket’s development, arguing that a team of Bangladesh’s resources pushing the top-ranked opposition to a 1-1 draw in Australia represents genuine progress regardless of individual milestones on the other side.
What it means for the WTC race and beyond
The drawn series leaves Australia with a share of points rather than the sweep many expected before the opening Test loss, a result that keeps them and Bangladesh both active in the 2025-27 World Test Championship standings heading into the rest of the cycle. For Starc individually, the record cements his status as one of the format’s most prolific bowlers in the WTC era specifically, and sets up further milestones as Australia move into their high-profile assignment against South Africa later this year. Bangladesh, buoyed by Shoriful’s emergence and the historic Darwin win, will look to build on the series as evidence their bowling attack can compete outside home conditions.
Putting the record in career perspective
Starc’s rise to the top of the WTC wicket-taking list caps more than a decade of new-ball bowling for Australia, a career that has weathered stress fractures, ankle surgery and periods in and out of the Test side, particularly in subcontinental conditions where his skill set has been less consistently effective. That he has still managed to out-strip contemporaries such as Pat Cummins, a bowler widely regarded as one of the most complete pace attacks of the era, on the specific WTC ledger reflects both longevity and a knack for delivering match-defining spells in home conditions, where left-arm swing at pace has repeatedly proven difficult for touring batting orders to counter, including Bangladesh’s in this series.
A series that also reshaped perceptions of Bangladesh
Beyond Starc’s personal milestone, the series carries genuine significance for Bangladesh’s development as a Test-playing nation outside home conditions. Their win in the opening Test at Darwin was not merely a shock scoreline; it represented the first time the team had beaten Australia in a Test match on Australian soil, a result that Bangladesh Cricket Board officials have since pointed to as validation of investment in fast-bowling resources, embodied by Shoriful Islam’s record-breaking display. Even in defeat in the second Test, Bangladesh’s batting order showed periods of resistance against Starc’s second-innings burst, suggesting the gap between the sides, while still considerable, may be narrowing in longer-format cricket away from the subcontinent.
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