Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket match haul plus three wickets apiece to Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon saw Australia level series in record time
Australian salvation came in the form of a third two-day Test in the past seven in this country, a weekend victory allowed by a Bangladesh batting unit that went from caviar to cold pizza in the space of a week.
Pat Cummins did their best to banish their Darwin defeat by restoring regular programming in an innings-and-51-run mauling in Mackay as Bangladesh added just 95 to their first-innings of 64 – the first time a team has been skittled for double figures twice in a Test in 21 years.
Mitchell Starc took four second innings wickets, giving him his best figures in a home Test (10-51), while Cummins (3-10 from as many overs) and Nathan Lyon (3-25, including the Test’s final two wickets from three balls after tea) gave little away.
The bowlers led a rout so comprehensive that the home side’s bowlers looked sheepish during Sunday’s churn of wickets that exposed the visitors’ frailty on a bouncy but fair pitch. Travis Head signed autographs on the Great Barrier Reef Arena boundary after the penultimate wicket fell.
The 750-ball Test was the shortest seen in Australia in almost a century. It finished quicker than last summer’s pair of two-day Ashes Tests in Perth and Melbourne, as well as the 2022-23 Gabba Test against South Africa.
Cameron Green’s mighty series continued as he finished with the match’s top score (67) to go with his 104 last week. Only a bending in-swinger from Shoriful Islam, vicious enough to knock the imposing right-hander off balance, could halt him in another commanding knock.
While Shoriful’s 7-48 marked the best analysis by a visiting bowler since Curtly Ambrose’s 7-25 in Perth in 1993, it was ultimately futile as Australia’s all-out 210 proved the lowest total to underpin an innings victory in 80 years.
There was a sense of expectation among camp-chair bound locals on Harrup Park’s eastern hill when Starc was thrown the new ball before lunch.
Bangladesh’s openers escaped becoming his 29th first-over victim but the early carnage was unavoidable. Shadman Islam (out closing the face to the left-armer for the second time in 24 hours) and Mominul Haque (bowled for golden duck) exposed Najmul Shanto to Starc’s second hat-trick ball in as many days.
Bangladesh’s captain dodged a king pair but finished an otherwise admirable tour with an egregious dismissal, caught at long-off having been deceived by a Nathan Lyon off-break pushed by the winter breeze too far inside his eyeline for his intended smite over cover.
Starc’s second bucket-handed outfield grab – Tanzid Hasan had registered his third single-figure score since his first-innings Darwin ton by pulling Cummins to long-leg – came after deficit had just trickled into double figures.
The extension of Litton Das’ miserable runless tour – out to Starc for his third straight duck – came in a rush for the exits hastened by an irrepressible Cummins spell.
Australia had resumed on Sunday morning already holding a 101-run advantage, growing that to 146 as their final two wickets contributed more than a quarter (62) of their overall runs tally.
After Shoriful’s beauty to get Green gave him the best figures ever by a Bangladesh paceman, Nathan Lyon was left stranded on 32no when No.11 Josh Hazlewood tried an overly ambitious slog sweep off Taijul Islam.
NRMA Insurance Bangladesh Test series
First Test: Bangladesh won by nine wickets in Darwin
Second Test: Australia won by an innings and 51 runs in Mackay
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
