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The English team's struggle against bowlers named Mitchell stretches back a long time.

It began with the sheer pace of Mitchell Johnson in 2013, and has persisted through the skillful left-arm bowling of Mitchell Starc.

In the seventh Ashes series of his career, Starc has taken 26 wickets - excelling in the unavailability of pace colleagues sometimes more highly rated.

Another four wickets in the fifth Test in Sydney and his total will be the most successful by any bowler in an Ashes series since Johnson over a decade ago.

From Criticism to Strength Led To Many Summers of Starc

The peak period for Starc - the 35-year-old has also scored more runs than three of England's top order with the bat - is the peak of a Test career founded on durability, wicket-taking skill and a keenness to evolve.

Over the past month and a half he has surpassed Curtly Ambrose, Harbhajan Singh, Shaun Pollock and, most notably, the great Wasim Akram on the all-time Test wicket-takers' list.

By nudging down Wasim, Starc became the leading left-arm fast bowler in Test history.

And when he lines up at his home ground for the fifth Test this week, it will be the 27th consecutive Australia Test in a row in which he has been selected - a wider run of four Tests missed from the past fifty-six.

The time 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 test competitors and to try and get them to be stronger than they have been in the past," the former coach stated.

"This was probably one of the talks you have with a lot of rookie quicks, especially when they start to enter international cricket.

"It happened a couple of times where he said he was a bit sore and might need a rest.

"It wasn't anything more than 'I reckon it's time we have got to discover how much your body can take before it breaks rather than pulling up in case it breaks.'"

Why Is Starc Such a Challenge to Face?

So great the improvement, Australia coach Andrew McDonald has raised the idea of Starc, the most senior of the elite fast-bowling group, playing in England for the 2027 Ashes, by which time he will be thirty-seven.

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

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

Longevity can get you only part of the way. To reach that milestone, you must be a constant danger too.

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

"You still have to be able to handle it but you can see when he is bowling the wobble seam, spot when he is trying to swing it."

There have been times in Starc's career when he has been criticised for conceding too many runs, something with which he has said he has made peace.

That weakness is far exceeded by his ability to take wickets.

Of the elite bowlers to have taken more than 350 in Tests, only South Africa's Dale Steyn and Pakistan's Waqar Younis have done so with a more frequent wicket-taking rate than Starc's.

He may go for runs, but the mean number of balls he needs to take a wicket is remarkably low.

"What I found tricky is I always felt like I was settled against him," Malan says.

"I felt I was picking up the ball easily because he has such a nice action, you can track the delivery and there are good pitches in Australia but periodically he'd bowl an unplayable delivery and you would just be walking back.

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

"He might deliver a half volley because he has tried something different, bowl a slower ball and then abruptly bowls a ball that starts on middle and hits the off stump.

"He consistently possesses that wicket-taking ball. If you don't respect him every single ball he just has the ability of getting you out."

A Renaissance Powered By Fresh Skills

Although he no longer bowls at the 99mph heights of his early career these days, Starc's typical speed has remained solidly above 87mph throughout the later stages of his career.

An skill he held from the outset shows no sign of fading.

"He was tall, proper tall, and had really good air speed which stood out," Nielsen says.

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

Swinging the ball and targeting the toes, pads or grille was, like other great left-armers before him, Starc's primary method during the majority of his career.

But, after being dropped during the 2019 Ashes tour, Starc incorporated the wobble seam delivery to his armoury by the time he returned to England in 2023.

No bowler in the world has taken as many as Starc's 118 wickets since the start of that 2023 series. Even Indian pace ace Jasprit Bumrah is behind by 12.

The wobble seam delivery has been a primary cause.

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

"He studied a lot of England's veteran seamers and consulted with them about it.

"For an athlete aged his mid-thirties to evolve his game is exceptional."

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

When hurling down the ball with a wobbling seam rather than looking to swing it, some deliveries move off the seam off the surface after pitching. Others will push on straight and find the edge of the bat.

Zak Crawley and Joe Root both were dismissed by Starc wobble balls in the first session of this series.

Starc's number of dismissals caught in the slips has risen by almost 10% in the past three years.

"The key to the wobble seam is to have your fingers and wrist right behind the ball and release the ball off your fingertips," Gillespie said.

"With the wobble seam Mitchell Starc will hold the ball with the seam positioned towards the off side.

"Upon release at the right time it will wobble its way down the pitch and that generates uncertainty for the batsman.

"He has working hard at developing that because he feels that wobble seam going away involves the keeper and slips 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.