Brydon Carse lauded the leadership of "beast" Ben Stokes, after England's captain dismantled Australia in the final session on day one of the opening Ashes Test.

Stokes took 5-23 to cap a thrilling day in which 19 wickets fell, a new record for the opening day of a first Ashes Test.

Mitchell Starc was the star of the show for Australia, finishing with career-best figures of 7-58, including picking up his 100th Ashes wicket, as England were skittled out for 172 in under 33 overs.

Yet England responded brilliantly with the ball as they reduced their hosts to 123-9 by stumps.

Stokes took centre-stage by becoming the first English captain to take an Ashes five-for on Australian soil, but Jofra Archer (2-11) and Carse (2-45) also did damage, with the latter dismissing Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith for 17.

And Carse said it was simply a case of following his captain's example.

"His character and enthusiasm around the group – and how he goes about his business – is phenomenal. He’s a great leader to have in our team," Carse told TNT Sports.

"He has been out here for the last two-and-a-half weeks. He’s in beast mode at the moment. Hopefully, that pays off throughout the series for him."

Speaking to Cricket Australia, Carse said of Stokes: "He’s amazing. His character, his resilience, he’s everything this team strives to be, and it was game-changing bowling in that spell from him."

5 - @benstokes38 (5/23) has become the fifth @englandcricket captain to take a five-wicket haul in an Ashes Test in Australia and the first to do so since Bob Willis in 1982; it's also his second fifer Down Under. Inspiring.#Ashes2025 #AUSvENG pic.twitter.com/oanVNLmAXm

— OptaJim (@OptaJim) November 21, 2025

Plenty of England fans were in attendance at Optus Stadium in Perth, and Carse was in awe at the atmosphere.

"It was brilliant. The atmosphere from this morning was electric – loads of English fans here. The energy right through the day was awesome," he told TNT Sports.

"Stokesy kept it really simple – we had 45, 50 minutes with the ball before tea. He just said to us to give everything and I thought the way Gus Atkinson and Jofra started was phenomenal. After tea, the message was similar, but just do it over a longer period of time.

"While the ball was still new, there was a lot of pace and bounce in it. It was just about hitting the wicket as hard as we could.

"I was nervous, excited. Going into the unknown. I was trying to soak it up throughout the day."

Looking forward to day two, Carse said the plan was simple.

"The first thing will be to knock over the last wicket. We’ve seen some guys get starts and runs today – they took the positive option," he said.

"Even Alex Carey out there towards the end was proactive and positive and put us under a bit of pressure.

"Going into the second innings, our batters will know what sort of gameplan they’re going to do."