How Mitchell Starc keeps making Ben Stokes look ordinary? Technical flaws exposed

Ben Stokes vs Mitchell Starc rivalry [Source: @ChetanKapoor56/X.com]

When Mitchell Starc runs in against Ben Stokes, there is a sense of inevitability. Not bravado, not theatre. Just inevitability. 

14 Test dismissals now, more than any other bowler, and counting. This is no coincidence, no short-term quirk of form. 

(Table: Ben Stokes' stats vs Mitchell Starc in Test)

It is a long, carefully built pattern, stretching back nearly a decade, where Starc has repeatedly found the same cracks in Stokes’ armour and tore them open. 

Ben Stokes is one of the toughest batters in world cricket. Mentally unbreakable, physically resilient, and capable of turning matches through sheer force of will. 

But even the hardest steel has stress points. Against Mitchell Starc, those stress points have been relentlessly targeted.

---

ALSO READ

Mitchell Starc lives dream 2025; crosses 50 wickets mark in a single year for second time during Ashes

---

The front-foot lunge

The first flaw is Stokes’ aggressive weight transfer. When he commits forward, he commits fully. His front foot lunges, his head follows, and his hands go searching for the ball. 

Against most bowlers, this brings control. But against Starc, it creates vulnerability. Starc’s inswinger, whether from swing or wobble seam, attacks that lunge. 

As Ben Stokes plants forward to defend or drive, a small gap opens between bat and pad. Mitchell Starc doesn’t need a big gate. He needs a sliver. Time and again, the ball has kissed that inside edge or beaten the bat entirely to rearrange the stumps. 

The dismissals in Perth and Adelaide in this series were textbook examples of how Stokes committed, Starc curved it back and it was game over. 

Ben Stokes’ drive temptation

Starc’s real genius against Stokes lies in the setup. Before bowling the killer ball, he manufactures that setup.

He pushes Ben Stokes back first. Two balls on a good length, outside off, shaping away. The England skipper leaves, defends, and reassures himself. 

Then comes the invitation in a fuller, straighter, just enough width delivery to suggest the drive. 

Stokes cannot resist. It’s in his DNA. That is the moment Mitchell Starc strikes, either swinging it late or wobbling it off the seam. The shot Stokes wants to play is exactly the shot Starc wants him to play.

It is psychological as much as technical. Starc has conditioned Stokes. The English captain knows what’s coming, as you can see it in his reactions. Yet still finds himself walking into the trap.

The closed stance problem

Ben Stokes’ slightly closed stance has always helped him generate power through the leg side. Against right-armers, it is a strength. Against a left-armer angling across him and then bringing it back, it becomes a liability.

That closed stance means Stokes’ front hip can block his bat path when the ball straightens. When Mitchell Starc brings it back in, Stokes often has to drag his bat around his pad, creating delay. 

At 140-plus kph, delay is fatal. This is why so many of Starc’s dismissals of Stokes look clean, bowled, lbw, or inside edge. The geometry is all wrong for the batter.

Ben Stokes’ static head vs Mitchell Starc

At his best, Stokes’ head is still and over the ball. Against Starc, under sustained pressure, it often isn’t. 

The late movement, especially with the pink ball, forces micro-adjustments. His head falls slightly across, his balance shifts, and suddenly that famous defensive solidity isn’t so solid. Starc thrives on that instability.

Why haven't others managed to match Starc?

Many bowlers have tried similar plans. Few have executed them. Starc’s pace means Stokes has less time. His left-arm angle changes the sightline. 

His ability to swing it both ways at high speed narrows the margin for error. And now, with the wobble seam in his toolkit, Starc doesn’t even need the ball to move in the air.

That combination of angle, pace, and late movement is unique. It’s why Mitchell Starc has six clean-bowled dismissals of Ben Stokes. 

It’s why no other bowler comes close to his tally. And it’s why this rivalry feels so one-sided despite the England skipper's stature.

The mental edge

Perhaps the biggest factor now is belief. Starc knows he has Stokes’ number. Stokes knows Starc has his. 

You can see it in the body language when the frustration creeps, the bat tosses, and the long walks back. This is not a batter being outplayed. This is a batter being out-thought.

A rivalry tilting one way

Great rivalries are usually balanced. This one isn’t. Not yet. Mitchell Starc has solved Ben Stokes, technically and psychologically, and continues to refine the method. 

Stokes will fight, as he always does, but the evidence is overwhelming. 14 times dismissed. Six times bowled. Across formats, across years, across conditions.

Mitchell Starc has not just dismissed Ben Stokes. He has dissected him. And until Stokes finds a way to shut that front-foot lunge, resist that drive, and trust his defence against the inswinger, this rivalry will remain one of the most one-sided duels in modern Test cricket.

---

ALSO READ

The captaincy burden: Statistical data reveals Ben Stokes' dip in Test numbers since 2022

---