THE JIMMY ANDERSON COLUMN: Mitchell Starc is coming for my first-over file – this is the reason he is so good from ball one, one of the best trick I used and the important thing giveaways we search for in bowlers’ conferences to strike immediately

It is an unavoidable fact of being retired from Test cricket that other players start to chase your records down. Mitchell Starc is doing it with me. When he got Ben Duckett out with the sixth ball of the match in Brisbane, it moved him only three behind my tally of 29 first-over wickets in Tests.

England will be keenly aware of his ability to strike early and they will be desperate to avoid him improving his record again in the third Test in Adelaide, starting Tuesday night. England cannot afford another bad start. They need to keep him out – but it won’t be easy.

Starc got three wickets in his first over against the West Indies in Kingston in July. He got Zak Crawley out for a duck in the first over of both the first and second innings of the first Ashes Test in Perth last month and then he got Duckett in Brisbane.

I know what worked for me. A lot of bowlers will warm up an hour before the start of the game and do their bowling then. The blood is warm and flowing through your body but then you have an hour to wait before you bowl your first ball. You lose your readiness.

If it was decided at the toss that we would bowl first, I would go out 15 minutes before the start of play and bowl a little then. That way, I was ready and loose. That way, it didn’t feel as if the first ball that I bowled in the match was the first ball I’d bowled in an hour.

I thought it was basic. That first spell in a Test match is a golden opportunity for a bowler. In bowlers’ meetings, we talk a lot about batters being more susceptible to making mistakes in their first 10 to 20 balls.

Australia’s Mitchell Starc is always bang on it from ball one and will generally bring the stumps into play as much as he possibly can in the first six balls

Starc revels in dismissing Ben Duckett in the first over in Brisbane to go with his two first-over wickets in Perth

If there is a common perception that a batsman is at his most vulnerable when he comes to the crease, well, when you’re opening the bowling you have got two brand new batters at the crease. Two batsmen at their most vulnerable.

It’s the ideal time to bowl. You have got a brand new ball so if there is any movement, it should swing. If there is any seam movement, try to find it in that first period of the game. There is usually some seam movement, regardless of where you are playing in the world, with a new ball and a fresh wicket.

So it is just about making sure you are on the money. Something that Starc is great at is that he will generally bring the stumps into play as much as he possibly can in the first six balls. He gives himself every chance to get a wicket early.

You do see a lot of guys who will bowl a few balls into the channel in their first over to just get loose. It takes them three or four balls to get into the spell and that’s too late. The first ball has got to be bang on. You can’t afford to have looseners in Test cricket.

That was my approach and I think that is Starc’s approach as well. At international level, you cannot give batters sighters. You can’t just bowl a couple into the channel to get loose. It allows them to get their feet moving, lets them watch a couple of balls first and then their eyes are adjusted to the ball and the light. You are giving them a chance.

As an opening bowler, your job is to set the tone for the rest of the group. You have got to bring energy, you have got to bring quality. You have got to put pressure on them straight away and then the fielding group will follow you.

In contrast, Jofra Archer’s first over of the Brisbane Test was way off. He didn’t hit his straps at all. He bowled a few down the leg side and it looked a bit laboured, like he wasn’t ready for it. That’s the skill of opening the bowling. It’s a great opportunity. Even if you don’t take a wicket, you can beat the bat and build pressure and it can snowball from there.

Perhaps it was part of what Ben Stokes was talking about when he spoke to reporters on Monday about the need for them to have some ‘dog’ in them when they’re playing in Australia. He meant fight and determination. It was an extension of his remark about Australia being no place for weak men.

Jofra Archer’s first over of the Brisbane Test was way off. He didn’t hit his straps at all in those six balls

Ben Stokes has talked of England needing a bit of ‘dog’ in them in Australia but I think you need a bit of that in you wherever you play Test cricket

I think I had dog in me but I don’t like the fact we bill it as: ‘In Australia, you need to have this…’ For me, you need to have some dog in you if you play Test cricket anywhere. You need to have that fight in you, that determination.

Yes, the pressure is heightened in Australia because the media attention is greater, the crowd is on your back more than in any other series. Australia really want to beat England and everything is intensified on and off the field.

You have to be able to deal with the outside noise and deliver your skill under the greatest pressure you will experience in your career. But everyone who has played Test cricket for a reasonable amount of time must have some form of those characteristics in them.

I have played with most of the guys in the England team and they all do have it. ‘Weak’ is a difficult word to hear but it is about having the mental resilience to make good decisions under pressure. And currently, some of the England batters in particular haven’t been making good decisions under pressure and I don’t think the bowlers have consistently delivered their skills under pressure. They have bowled well in patches.

Australia have bowled consistently, they have put pressure on England and when they have batted, they have nailed their game plan more than England have and that’s why England are 2-0 down.

Starting to fight when your back is against the wall is a good trait to have but quite often in this series, the fight has appeared when it’s too late. Stokes digging in with the bat in the second innings in Brisbane was great but more people needed to do that in the first innings. Archer bowled 95mph in the second innings at Brisbane. We needed that in the first innings. I heard Stokes saying Jofra goes through the gears but you can’t pick and choose when you do that. You have got to show it 100 per cent of the time.

It’s good to show it when you are under pressure because you don’t want to show the opposition that you are fragile or that you are going to crack under that pressure. You want to show that you are a strong character and that you are not going to go away.

England have to be up for it in Adelaide and they have to be up for it from Ball One. And Adelaide does offer us a better chance of victory than either Brisbane or Perth did. The pitch is generally slower, flatter and not as bouncy. It’s similar to English conditions in that respect, which might help us.

I like the inclusion of Josh Tongue in the England side. He is a bit different to anyone else we have. He’s got pace and he has an awkward release point

The pitch in Adelaide will help our batters including Harry Brook as it is flatter and not as bouncy

I think it will help our batters. My worry is that the England bowlers have got pace and the Adelaide wicket might neuter that. It is harder to go with that short-pitched stuff at Adelaide because square of the wicket is a lot shorter than any other wicket in Australia. You have not got as many chances of getting people caught at deep square leg.

Josh Tongue being picked to replace Gus Atkinson for Adelaide is the right choice. I thought he might come in for the last game. He is a bit different to anyone else we have – he’s got pace and an awkward release point, so he gets the ball to angle in to right handers and can swing the ball away.

He bowls wicket-taking balls and is really exciting to watch. He has got that X-factor that the England management are after. They have spoken openly about not worrying too much about the run rate from a bowling perspective, they just want to take 20 wickets and he fits into that thinking.

The bowling attack did need a freshening up after the first two games. It was a good bowling attack but it did look quite samey. It’s time for a roll of the dice. It’s now or never.