Australia and Bangladesh possess the two quickest pace contingents in the world – and the hosts must be wary, says their coach
Andrew McDonald has warned Australia’s batters to be on guard when they face a Bangladesh attack led by Test cricket’s fastest bowler in two Top End Tests next month.
A depleted Aussie side were humbled by the quietly rising Tigers on a three-game ODI tour in June. It was their fourth straight bilateral series win in 50-over cricket, having also toppled New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies since October.
The one-time minnows’ success has been built on an expanded pool of seamers that has also made them a threat in Test cricket; since 2022, they have beaten New Zealand and Pakistan both at home and abroad.
Nahid Rana, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam are not household names Down Under, but the trio lead an emerging pace group data suggests is Australia’s equal in terms of pure ball-speed.
Perhaps in a sign of the importance of the coming Australia tour, that trio was rested for Bangladesh’s recent one-off Test against Zimbabwe in Harare. Without their best seamers, the visitors slumped to an innings defeat.
Rana, the 188cm tall prospect who has been mentored by Shaun Tait, has already made quite the impression on the Aussies. In the opening ODI in Dhaka last month, his first match against the defending 50-over champions, he took 4-41 to strike the first blow in what proved Bangladesh’s maiden ODI series win over Australia.
Neither his all-arms-and-legs bowling action nor his send-off for stand-in captain Josh Inglis, deemed by the ICC as aggressive and foul-mouthed when it issued him a reprimand, are likely to be forgotten by his opponents.
“Rana got us in the first game, didn’t he?” McDonald told cricket.com.au recently after his side returned from Bangladesh with a T20I series sweep to show for a rare trip to the country.
“Sometimes that can be sight unseen as well – we hadn’t had a look at him and he comes in with a different action.
“But I think they are a good team, and I think that’s the thing that’s probably lost in it all (after) we do lose a (ODI) series to Bangladesh for the first time. In their conditions they’ve won five ODI series in a row, so they’re a good team there.
“Then if you start to extrapolate that out into the Test (arena) – you’ve got Taskin, you’ve got Rana, you got Shoriful, they’ve got some depth there outside of those guys as well.
“So they’ve got a pace attack that, in Australia, could be pretty potent.
“We’re going to have to do our homework. I know it’s a different format but it’s probably a great connector in terms of just seeing how their bowlers go about it and getting a look at their actions.”
A hostile visiting seam attack will add to the spectacle of Test cricket’s return to Australia’s north.
Bangladesh, who were trounced by Steve Waugh’s side in Darwin and Cairns in 2003 and have not returned to Australia for a bilateral series since, are no longer the game’s easy-beats.
Central to their threat will be Rana, Test cricket’s fastest bowler since his debut in March 2024, per CricViz. Mitchell Starc is the only other bowler to average above 140kph over the same period.
The 23-year-old returned to Bangladesh’s ODI side earlier this week to snare 6-21 against Zimbabwe and looks certain to soon break into the ICC’s top 10 ranked bowlers in that format.
Overall, Australia’s vaunted seam bowlers and Bangladesh’s developing group of quicks have been comfortably the two fastest attacks in Test cricket over that same period; more than a fifth of all balls bowled by each team’s fast bowlers have been above 140kph, far higher than other Test nations.
Australia’s batting unit have shown signs of vulnerability against such bowling – Jasprit Bumrah, Shamar Joseph and Pakistan’s Aamer Jamal have all had success on these shores in recent years – even if they have ultimately out-performed their opponents to remain unbeaten in home Test series since 2021.
On the spin front, McDonald believes Australia hold an advantage regardless of whether Nathan Lyon recovers from a serious hamstring injury in time for the two-Test series. Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam is Test cricket’s most prolific spin bowler over the past year – his first-innings 7-138 against Zimbabwe took his tally since the start of June 2025 to 42 at 24.88 – but the left-armer is untested in Australian conditions.
If the strength of the two teams’ bowling attacks effectively cancels each other out, it follows that the deciding factor could be the strength of the batting line-ups, especially if pace-friendly wickets present.
“I think for any touring team, runs are always a challenge,” said McDonald. “We’ve seen in Australia in recent times that even our team’s been compromised in the runs column with the surfaces that we’ve played on.
“Our fast-bowling attack is pretty handy also. So if you lived in a world where their (bowling attack) is handy and ours is a little bit better than handy, then runs is going to be where that series is won or lost.
“We’re yet to see where Nathan Lyon is at as well. We think our spin stocks in Australia potentially can be a point of difference within that series as well.
“It feels like an eternity since (the Test team has) convened but we’re going to get to know each other pretty well over the next 12 to 18 months with what we’ve got coming up again, so super excited for the Top End Test summer (to start it).”
Australia will play 20 Tests (21 if they make the World Test Championship final) during a 12-month stretch starting with the two against Bangladesh, before four at home against New Zealand and the 150th anniversary match at the MCG, as well as trips to South Africa (three), India and England (both five).
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: August 13-17, Marrara Stadium Darwin, 10am (local)
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
