Australia needed someone to step up, and Mitchell Starc did exactly that.
With Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood unavailable, Starc delivered a career-best 7/58 to bowl England out in the first innings and hand the hosts early control of the opening Ashes Test in Perth on Friday.
Starc set the tone in the morning session, removing Zak Crawley for a duck before adding Ben Duckett (21) and Joe Root (0) to send England into lunch reeling at four down.
Stand-in captain Steve Smith wasted no time throwing the ball back to his spearhead in the second session, and Starc immediately delivered again, knocking over England Captain Ben Stokes for just 6.
From there, the left-armer ran through the tail, dismissing Gus Atkinson (1), Jamie Smith (33) and Mark Wood (0) to complete a stunning seven-wicket haul -- now the best bowling figures ever recorded at the Optus stadium in Perth and only the second seven-for by an Australian at home in an Ashes Test this century.
But Starc's brilliance wasn't the only headline. Former England captain Michael Vaughan unleashed a scathing critique of England's batting and their Bazball philosophy, especially the way the tail handled the closing phase of the innings.
'Poor batting. The way the last few wickets down. Really poor. You've got to question Bazball and its brain,' Vaughan said on air while calling the game for Fox Cricket.
He pointed to how England's lower order failed to support Jamie Smith, the only batter who looked settled near the end, instead playing with reckless abandon.
'The tailenders should have looked to bat with Jamie Smith. Really poor from the batters towards the end. The plan should have been to give him the strike and let him do the heavy lifting,' he added.
While Harry Brook (52) and Ollie Pope (46) showed resistance, England's collapse and Vaughan's brutal dissection of it and ensured that Bazball will once again be the centre of the post-day debate.
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