Time to call stumps. On behalf of the Guardian’s over-by-over team, thanks for your company today and throughout this 2025-26 Ashes series. Over and OUT!
Geoff Lemon pays tribute to player of the series Mitchell Starc.
It was right that Mitchell Starc should clean up the last two English wickets of this Ashes. Right, too, that Travis Head should mop up a few more runs, but for all of the enjoyment that Head brings with his Jayasuriya-lite batting and his Boon-lite persona, the difference in the series has been the other left-hander. The fifth morning of the Sydney Test took Starc to 31 wickets at 19, and crossing 30 is the stuff of great Ashes series.
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