When England were bundled out for 172 in the first innings of the opening Ashes 2025/26 Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth, the onus was on the visiting bowlers to post a strong performance with the ball, using their pace and accuracy, and their captain, Ben Stoked, put his hands up and did the job. 

The early wickets of the innings before the premier pacer, Jofra Archer, who trapped the debutant left-handed opening batter of the side, Jake Weatherald, for a second-ball duck, while Marnus Labuschagne chopped the short ball into the stumps to get back to the dressing room, while on the other hand, Steve Smith was caught in the slip region.

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Stokes came into the attack quite late into the opening day and opened his account with the massive wicket of Travis Head on 21, who pulled the short ball into the hands of Brydon Carse. Cameron Green was tentative outside the off-stump and went for a flashing drive to get the outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper.

Watch: Ben Stokes celebrates 5/21 during opening Ashes 2025/26 Test in Perth

Stokes also bounced out Mitchell Starc while the wicket-keeper batter of the Australia side, Alex Carey, upper cut the short ball from Stokes into the hands of the fielder. Meanwhile, Scott Boland got an outside edge into the hands of the slip region as Stokes claimed a magical figure of 5/23 in his six overs, including one maiden.

🚨 19 WICKETS IN JUST 71.5 OVERS ON DAY 1 AT PERTH 🚨

- Peak Ashes Test. pic.twitter.com/Cg1ergSa42

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 21, 2025

It’s the most wickets to fall on the opening day of an Ashes Test in the last 100 years, going past 17 wickets which fell at Trent Bridge in 2001. It’s also the most wickets to fall on a first-day surface in Perth, overtaking last year’s 17 wickets during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against India.

Earlier in the day, Harry Brook’s 52 runs and Ollie Pope’s 46 runs helped the visitors to post 172 runs in the first innings, while the premier left-arm pacer of the Australian side, Mitchell Starc, ended with figures of 7/58 in 12.5 overs at an economy rate of 4.50.