Match facts
Who: Australia v Bangladesh
What: Second NRMA Insurance Test
When: August 22-26, first ball 10am local time (10am AEST, 8am AWST, 6am BST)
Where: Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay
Live scores: Match Centre
How to watch: Channel Seven, 7plus, Kayo Sports and Foxtel
How to listen: ABC Radio and SEN Radio will bring you live coverage on the wireless of both Test matches this series.
Buy tickets: Tickets are still available. Get them here.
Officials: Nitin Menon and Kumar Dharmasena (field), Richard Illingworth (third), Donovan Koch (fourth). Richie Richardson (referee)
News and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app. The Unplayable Podcast will also be dropping a new episode after each days’ play during the summer. Josh Hazlewood and Beau Webster have already been special guests this summer and expect to see more Test players throughout the summer. Join hosts Josh Schonafinger and Louis Cameron to recap all the action and talking points from the ground. And you can listen to the back catalogue of episodes below.
Listen on SpotifyListen on Apple PodcastsListen on iHeart Radio
First Test session times
First: 10:00am – 12:00pm AEST
Second: 12:40pm – 2:40pm AEST
Third: 3:00pm – 5:00pm AEST
*An extra 30 minutes is available to complete daily overs
Full series schedule
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets
Second Test: August 22-26; Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay
The squads
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster, Matthew Renshaw
Australia’s full-strength squad was no match for Bangladesh in the first Test, comprehensively outplayed across the four days. Opener Jake Weatherald has been cut from the squad after contributing scores of 23 and 0 in Darwin and a Test average a shade above 20 from six matches. Queensland’s Matthew Renshaw comes in as his replacement.
Left on the bench in Darwin were Scott Boland and Josh Inglis and although Inglis had a minor back complaint both are expected to be fully fit and available for Mackay.
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan, Litton Das, Shoriful Islam
Bangladesh shocked the cricket world with their comprehensive victory over Australia in Darwin and they did so without two of their best pace bowlers in Nahid Rana and Shoriful Islam. While the former has flown home to Bangladesh to commence his rehabilitation for a side strain issue, Shoriful “passed his fitness test” according to his captain Najmul Shanto and will be available for selection. Whether he can force his way into the five-strong bowling attack that dismantled Australia’s XI twice in 140-odd overs is another question.
Litton Das come into the Test having recently recovered from a calf issue and showed no signs of discomfort through the win at Marrara Stadium.
Possible XIs
Australia: Travis Head, Matthew Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Beau Webster, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Australia made the swift decision to replace Weatherald with Renshaw in the squad and it could be as simple as a straight swap in the XI too.
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury
It would almost be unfair on the Bangladesh XI to make any changes after such a complete team effort. Although they are likely to have the option of left-armer Shoriful Islam and experienced opening bat Soumya Sarkar, changes seem unlikely for the second Test.
Local knowledge
Mackay’s Great Barrier Reef Arena (Harrup Park) will become Australia’s 12th men’s Test venue when it hosts the second Test starting on Saturday.
After Queensland smashed the touring Sri Lankas there in 1995-96, Mackay had to wait 20 years before seeing another professional red-ball fixture. Since 2015-16, Queensland have hosted two Sheffield Shield matches and Australia A have played two first-class games, one of which was a pink-ball, day-night clash against New Zealand A in 2023-24.
The most recent match was in October 2024, with Brendan Doggett’s 6-15 setting up a comfortable win for Aus A over India A.
Interestingly, the only player with two first-class centuries at the ground is the recalled Matthew Renshaw, who plundered 135 against Victoria in 2023-24 and 170 against New South Wales, way back in December 2015.
Players to watch
Alex Carey (Australia): The Aussie gloveman lines up for his 50th Test in Mackay, playing every match since his debut at the start of the 2021-22 Ashes series. He becomes the seventh Australian keeper to reach the milestone and has a higher Test batting average (35.55) than all bar Adam Gilchrist (47.6).
Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh): Mushfiqur Rahim finally made his first Test appearance in Australia aged 39, 21 years after his debut in 2005. The diminutive right-hander, who gave up the gloves in Tests five years ago, contributed an enterprising 36 in Darwin which help push Bangladesh further into the lead on the second afternoon. Known for his contagious smile, the elder statesman celebrated harder than most of his teammates following the Tigers’ historic victory and will be keener than most to complete the job in Mackay.
Form guide
Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, D: draw
Australia: LWLWWWWWWL
Australia’s first Test since January ended in a comfortable defeat and now have seven wins and three loses across their past 10 fixtures.
Bangladesh: WLWWWWLDWL
Bangladesh claimed only the 10th away win in their history and their first Test win in Australia with their performance in Darwin.
Rapid stats
Mackay will become Australia’s 12th men’s Test venue and the fourth in Queensland after Brisbane’s ‘Gabba’ and Exhibition Ground as well as Cairns’ Cazaly’s Stadium.
Steve Smith (10,878) is 50 runs away from going past Steve Waughʼs tally of 10,927 to become the third-highest run scorer for Australia in menʼs Tests, with Ricky Ponting (13,378) and Allan Border (11,1174) leading the way.
Alex Carey will play his 50th Test match for Australia. He will become the seventh Australian wicketkeeper to reach that mark.
Cameron Green (899) is 101 runs away from scoring 1,000 menʼs Test runs in Australia.
Mitchell Starc (397) is 3 wickets away from becoming the third player to take 400 wickets in menʼs Internationals (combined Tests, ODIs and T20Is) in Australia, only Shane Warne (453) and Glenn McGrath (449) is ahead of him.
Steve Smith needs one more catch to pull ahead of Joe Root – the duo currently sit tied atop the all-time Test catches (for non-wicketkeepers) with 218 each.
Mushfiqur Rahim (6,842) is 158 runs away from scoring 7,000 menʼs Test runs. He would the first Bangladeshi player to register the milestone.
World Test Championship
Australia’s shock loss has cut their lead on top of the WTC standings as their points percentage dropped from 87.50 to 77.78. However, it was only their second loss of the current cycle.
Bangladesh meanwhile have inched closer to the top two, but captain Shanto poured cold water on the discussions of his side’s potential WTC final chances, saying it was still “one match at a time” for the Tigers.
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets
Second Test: August 22-26, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 10am (local)
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster, Matthew Renshaw
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali Anik, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Musfik Hasan, Litton Das, Shoriful Islam
