Brisbane- Mitchell Starc struck for a third time on Day 1 of the second Ashes test, swinging momentum again for Australia just as England was settling into an almost conventional rhythm in cricket's longest format.

After removing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope to have England reeling at 5-2 in the third over Thursday, Starc returned to dismiss Harry Brook in his first over of the middle session.

With his 415th career wicket, the 35-year-old Australian surpassed Pakistan great Wasim Akram (414 from 104 tests) as the most successful left-arm fast bowler in test cricket.

It was a jolt England could have done without, Brook caught at slip slashing outside off stump and falling for 31 from 33 balls to end a 54-run fourth-wicket partnership with Joe Root just as the sun was going down.

Root shared a 117-run stand with Zac Crawley (76) to lift England to 122-3 and then partnered Brook in another innings-reviving stand.

He was unbeaten on 68 and skipper Ben Stokes was 14 with England at 196-4 at the end of the second session, ushering England to its highest total of the series so far following two batting failures in the eight-wicket loss in the first test at Perth.

Starc took 10 wickets in Perth under standard test conditions.

He's the most prolific bowler ever in day-night test cricket, taking 81 wickets with the pink ball in 14 matches leading into this one.

With the lights on and the ball starting to shape around, anything could happen before stumps.

Early going

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