Mitchell Starc and Shoriful Islam each claimed six wickets as Cameron Green’s steady fifty helped Austrlaia to a 101-run lead
Granted the new-ball nirvana he was denied in Darwin, Mitchell Starc needed just 40 minutes to set Mackay’s first Test on a vastly different course to the series opener. But an inspirational reply from his left-arm pace counterpart Shoriful Islam has singlehandedly kept Bangladesh’s slim comeback hopes afloat on a thrilling 18-wicket opening day.
In the space of 22 balls, Starc (6-12) pocketed half of Bangladesh’s first-innings wickets before later completing his fourth six-wicket-or-more haul in his last eight Tests, steamrolling Bangladesh for just 64.
Yet the home side’s batters found life almost as difficult. Shoriful, returning from the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the first Test, blew the game open by taking three wickets in five balls during the final hour of the day. The 25-year-old had earlier dismissed Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne in his first over to leave the Aussies teetering at 3-41.
A sequence of imperious pull shots from Cameron Green (51no) gave the impression the imposing allrounder was batting on a different surface altogether. He passed fifty in central Queensland’s dying light and, by stumps, the first Test centurion had led Australia to 8-165 with Nathan Lyon (10no) unbeaten with him.
Bangladesh’s first-innings effort marked the lowest score on these shores since India’s 36 all out at Adelaide in 2020. The Gabba-adjacent bounce proved almost as unfriendly to the hosts, as a third straight Head chop-on, another Labuschagne failure and Alex Carey’s exit in a desperate attempt to avoid the spin rut he entered in Darwin headlined the unconvincing reply.
Somehow, and despite all that, a third innings defeat in four red-ball games is still firmly on the cards for Bangladesh given the 101-run deficit they had conceded by the end of play.
A thatchy mat of grass allowed ideal conditions for Starc’s vicious late swing that accounted for five of the visitors’ top six.
After taking just 15 deliveries in Jamaica last year, his 22-ball effort here now gives him two of the five quickest five-fors in Test history. He also moved two ahead of Dale Steyn’s mark of 439 Test wickets to be in the game’s all-time top 10.
It is unknowable whether Starc would have been as dominant in Darwin if Cummins had chosen to bowl first like he did on Saturday morning at Harrup Park. What is certain is Bangladesh’s top order found life exponentially more difficult on the fresh wicket, even one that offered around a degree less first session seam movement than Marrara according to ball-tracking data.
Shadman Islam became Starc victim No.28 in the first over of an innings – and fourth on the first ball of a Test – when he turned the face on a full delivery that Green gobbled up in the gully. The 36-year-old was on a hat-trick the following over when Tanzid Hasan (whose returns this series are 101, 0 and 0) and captain Najmul Shanto succumbed in successive deliveries.
After another smart Green grab, Starc would have had his five in even faster time had Webster not inexplicably put down a lollipop when Litton Das gloved a snorting lifter. His relief could not have come quicker; Das was pinned lbw the very next ball.
Cummins’ canny bowling (snaring 3-25 in 10 overs) and captaincy (placing a leg-slip for a Josh Hazlewood around-the-wicket ploy that worked first ball) had Bangladesh in danger of going under their lowest ever Test innings score (43).
It took some lusty swings from Shoriful (14) to avoid complete humiliation, though the No.11 top scoring was only the 13th instance in Test history.
Matthew Renshaw was busy in his first Test knock in three years but was perhaps over-eager to work Taskin Ahmed through the leg-side for a third time in as many balls when he edged to third slip.
It was this Test’s other recall in Shoriful who made a greater impact as he sliced through the Australians in a brilliant riposte.
Shoriful cut short the promising 77-run partnership that took Australia into the lead when Steve Smith made the error of missing one on his stumps, the No.4 walking off shaking his head when his lbw review showed the most marginal of impact on the stumps.
Carey, who had been severely bogged down by Mehidy Hasan Miraz during the first Test, advanced at the off-spinner but was done in flight to offer a simple skied catch. It exposed the lower-order to Shoriful, who had the best figures by a Bangladesh quick by stumps after Cummins and Starc followed Webster (lbw for a golden duck) in falling to him.
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets in Darwin
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, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vc), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Amite Hasan, Jaker Ali, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Chowdhury, Shoriful Islam, Musfik Hasan
