VIDEO SHOWS: ASHES PRESS CONFERENCES BY ENGLAND'S BRYDON CARSE AND AUSTRALIA'S MITCHELL STARC / STILLS FROM FIRST TEST RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE) 1. STILL OF ENGLAND'S BEN STOKES WALKING INTO THE GROUND WITH TEAMMATES AHEAD OF AUSTRALIA'S FIRST INNINGS PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (FOXSPORTS AUSTRALIA - Broadcast: No use Australia / New Zealand Digital: No use Australia / New Zealand / .co.nz internet sites / .com.au internet sites / any internet site of any Australia or New Zealand based media organisations or mobile platforms / Australian NVO clients / smh.com.au / news.com.au) 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND PACE BOWLER, BRYDON CARSE, SAYING: "Yes, look, obviously an unbelievable day of test cricket. I think everyone that came to watch today was thoroughly entertained. I think at the halfway mark, Stokesy (Ben Stokes) kept it quite simple and he said, 'We've got 50 minutes before tea.' And I thought the way that Gus (Atkinson) and Jofra (Archer) started was phenomenal, and we carried that into the afternoon session. I thought we were quite relentless as a group of seamers, and Ben rotated us well." (Q: "Is this everything you thought Ashes cricket would be?") "I was probably coming into the unknown this morning, but the atmosphere was unbelievable. And to see so many English fans there, singing throughout the day, was pretty special." (Q: "What did you guys as a bowling unit say to each other when you've got 172 runs on the board, not tons to play with? You had to be — you would have known you had to be bang on today.") "Yeah, definitely, and I think that's again, like I just said, the way that them boys started with the new ball, and then everyone else to follow. A group of bowlers, you know, I think we bounce off each other, we all have slightly different attributes, and keeping it relatively simple. I think that stood us in good stead today." PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE) 3. STILL OF ENGLAND'S BEN STOKES CELEBRATING WITH TEAMMATES AFTER TAKING THE WICKET OF AUSTRALIA'S ALEX CAREY CAUGHT OUT BY BRYDON CARSE PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (FOXSPORTS AUSTRALIA - Broadcast: No use Australia / New Zealand Digital: No use Australia / New Zealand / .co.nz internet sites / .com.au internet sites / any internet site of any Australia or New Zealand based media organisations or mobile platforms / Australian NVO clients / smh.com.au / news.com.au) 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND PACE BOWLER, BRYDON CARSE, SAYING: "I think the Australian side came out and bowled well after lunch. It's a massive outfield square. I think at lunch we said, you know, 100 for four is probably more like 150 with the amount of running between the wickets that the guys had to do. So, look, it was probably under par, but again, the way that we've come out and bowled in that afternoon session has put us in a decent position going into tomorrow." PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE) 5. STILL OF AUSTRALIA'S MITCHELL STARC CELEBRATING HIS FIVE WICKET HAUL WITH TEAMMATES AFTER DISMISSING ENGLAND'S GUS ATKINSON, CAUGHT OUT BY STEVE SMITH PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (FOXSPORTS AUSTRALIA - Broadcast: No use Australia / New Zealand Digital: No use Australia / New Zealand / .co.nz internet sites / .com.au internet sites / any internet site of any Australia or New Zealand based media organisations or mobile platforms / Australian NVO clients / smh.com.au / news.com.au) 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIA PLAYER, MITCHELL STARC, SAYING: "Yeah, I mean, it's always been my role to be aggressive, look for wickets. I've never been one to worry about economy rates, so that has been my role in the team is to go looking for wickets, especially with the new ball and hopefully make inroads into oppositions. So, yeah, fortunate enough to get another one in the first over and get us going today. I thought both teams bowled pretty well for the 19 wickets, yeah." PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE) 7. STILL OF AUSTRALIA'S MITCHELL STARC IN ACTION PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (FOXSPORTS AUSTRALIA - Broadcast: No use Australia / New Zealand Digital: No use Australia / New Zealand / .co.nz internet sites / .com.au internet sites / any internet site of any Australia or New Zealand based media organisations or mobile platforms / Australian NVO clients / smh.com.au / news.com.au) 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIA PLAYER, MITCHELL STARC, SAYING: "I think we often sit here and say, you know, last year it was a 17-wicket day, this year it's 19 wickets. We often sit here and say it's the wicket or it's the batting, but I think both teams bowled really well. We know how England want to take the game, the approach of being aggressive. That creates opportunities, and I thought we bowled quite well, even in a period there where it felt like it was kind of helter-skelter. We still bowled them out for 170. So, yeah, I'm sure both teams would probably want to bat a little bit or change the way perhaps of their approach, but sometimes you can sit there and say it's pretty good bowling from both teams." PERTH, AUSTRALIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE) 9. STILL OF AUSTRALIA'S MITCHELL STARC PLAYING A SHOT OFF THE BOWLING OF ENGLAND'S BEN STOKES / STARC IS CAUGHT OUT BY ENGLAND'S BRYDON CARSE STORY: Australia trailed England by 49 runs on 123-9 at the end of an extraordinary opening day of the Ashes series on Friday (November 21) at Perth Stadium, where bowlers had very much the upper hand and a remarkable 19 wickets fell. Mitchell Starc, spearheading the home attack in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, took a career-best 7-58 as Australia dismissed the tourists for 172 before tea. The large visiting contingent in the crowd of 51,531 were soon in full voice, however, as England skipper Ben Stokes led a pace counter-offensive to rip through the Australian batting order and claim his own five-wicket haul with figures of 5-23. "I think everyone that came to watch today was thoroughly entertained," England seamer Brydon Carse said in a press conference. The action-packed opening day, which saw more wickets fall on any single day of an Ashes test since 1909, evoked memories of the first day of last year's test between Australia and India at the same stadium when 17 first-day wickets fell. After opting to bat first, England were stunned in the opening over when Zak Crawley was tempted into a drive by an angled Starc delivery, which edged to first slip, and departed for a duck. The Australian fast bowler had career-best bowling figures of seven for 58 to help skittle England for 172. England counter-attacked with a pace onslaught of their own, led by skipper Ben Stokes who claimed five for 23 in six overs during the last session, to reduce the hosts to 123-9 at stumps and still trailing by 49 runs. "We know how England want to take the game, the approach of being aggressive. That creates opportunities, and I thought we bowled quite well, even in a period there where it felt like it was kind of helter-skelter. We still bowled them out for 170," Starc told reporters. (Production: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake, Mussab Al-Khairalla) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
