From being bowled out for 54 by a Cricket Australia XI to pulling off their first Test victory on Australian soil a few days later, what a week for Bangladesh cricket. Their players were calm and composed, especially at the moment of victory. A telling sign that they don’t see this as a flash in the pan but rather what they are capable of when they play their best cricket.
They certainly put on a solid show in Darwin and will head to Mackay for the second Test full of confidence that they can go one step further and turn a momentous Test win into a historic series victory.
Thanks for your company and comments, we’ll be back to OBO that second Test starting on Saturday. Until then, goodbye!
Bangladesh have handed Australia one of their most humiliating and crushing Test defeats in 149 years, despite a career-saving century by Cameron Green.
The visitors bowled Australia out for 284 in their second innings in Darwin and polished off the 57 runs required for victory for the loss of one wicket to secure their first Test win on Australian soil.
Victorious captain Najmul Hossain Shanto:
Very happy! Proud of myself and the way the boys played. We did a lot of hard work. Five years ago, pace bowlers didn’t want to play Tests but we’ve been playing lots of Test cricket and they are giving importance to the Test format. They want to play, want to perform, want to be world-class. That is the mindset they now have. Seniors like Mushfiqur and Mominul have encouraged them to play more Test cricket…
This is the biggest win so far for Bangladesh in any format.
Take nothing away from Bangladesh who were excellent and have pulled off a historic away victory against a full strength Aussie XI. There will, however, be much bone picking over the next few days about the below par performance from Cummins and his men.
A rueful Pat Cummins speaks:
I thought our prep was spot on, there’s no excuses. They played well. We had to find a way to bat longer and then we couldn’t penetrate with the ball.
We’re pretty good at bouncing back. They outplayed us in all facets, they were patient and disciplined. Josh (Hazelwood) hasn’t had a great run with injuries but he’s one of the hardest workers. (Cameron) Green’s tempo showed how good he is, he needed couple of us to hang in with him.”
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Hasan Mahmud is named Player of the Match for his nine-wicket haul:
Before the match - in the practice session - we were trying our best every second and believed in ourselves without thinking of the outcome.
The bowlers were patient, they stuck at their line and length and results came. They will be very happy for me (family and friends in Bangladesh) My people will be celebrating!”
Mehidy Hasan Miraz took 5-66 in Australia’s second innings, including Steve Smith, Alex Carey and Beay Webster. His elation shines through as he speaks:
It was excellent cricket from us. We’re here after a long time, it was an excellent performance from the team and we showed our character. We had the belief. Australia are a world-class team and have lots of good players. We knew if we beat them, it would be very good for our country.
We had just one message - that we have to believe otherwise it’s not possible. We batted well and bowled well at the right times.
I think everybody is happy, they are very proud. It’s a proud moment. Thank you fans for coming and supporting us. They believed that we could win the match and that’s why we won.”
Bangladesh beat Australia by nine wickets!
Amazing scenes in Darwin as Mominul Haque cuts Beau Webster for four to seal victory for Bangladesh! The Aussies sportingly wander over to shake hands and a fair few of them look shell shocked but this is no snatch and grab, the visitors have outplayed their hosts in every department over four days and won the big moments.
The Bangladesh fans in Marrara Stadium stand and whoop and cheer as the players make their way from the middle, soaking up the applause and drinking in the moment.
14th over: Bangladesh 53-1 (Shadman 25, Haque 26) They’re just a shot away! They’re just a shot away! Five runs off Lyon’s latest leave Bangladesh just four runs from their greatest Test victory.
13th over: Bangladesh 48-1 (Shadman 24, Haque 22) Webster continues, just a single off the over as Mominul cuts to deep point. Single figures needed now.
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12th over: Bangladesh 47-1 (Shadman 24, Haque 21) Three singles pocketed off Lyon and the moment gets ever closer, just ten runs needed now for Bangladesh.
11th over: Bangladesh 44-1 (Shadman 23, Haque 19) The loudest roar yet from the Bangladesh fans in the stands as Shadman stands tall and pings Beau Webster for four through the covers. Hold the pose sir!
10th over: Bangladesh 37-1 (Shadman 18, Haque 17) Huge cheers greet every Bangladesh run in Darwin, three of them are collected off Nathan Lyon. THe Aussie shoulders are somewhat slumped now and the early chirp has gone. They know they haven’t been anywhere near good enough in either department. There will be plenty of chatter after this, especially about the fragility of the batting line up.
9th over: Bangladesh 34-1 (Shadman 17, Haque 15) Mominul nudges a single off his hip into the leg side off Hazlewood, the number three has been cool as a cuke since he arrived with Bangladesh nerves jangling like a peak REM Rickenbacker after the early loss of Tanzid.
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8th over: Bangladesh 33-1 (Shadman 17, Haque 14) Three more runs calmly collected off Lyon. The camera pans to the Bangladesh dug out and they are all smiles. They have got this, what a performance this has been with bat and ball, they’ll have their moment shortly and their fans are in full voice in the Marrara stadium.
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7th over: Bangladesh 30-1 (Shadman 17, Haque 11) Starc continues in blustery conditions in Darwin, two singles and a leg bye sees Bangladesh reach and go past the half way mark of their target.
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6th over: Bangladesh 27-1 (Shadman 16, Haque 10) Three threes off Lyon’d first over. The visiting fans cheer with abandon as Shadman and Mominul work the gaps and scamper the runs. Centurion Cam Green guilty of a misfield at point that gifts a couple of freebies. Bangladesh will take them any which way, they are almost half way there!
5th over: Bangladesh 18-1 (Shadman 13, Haque 4) Close! Shadman fences at a brutish delivery from Starc and the edge flies over the cordon and away for four! Starc looks about as happy as you’d expect. He’s full for the rest of the over and five dots follow. Here comes Nathan Lyon, can he twirl out a few quick wickets?
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4th over: Bangladesh 14-1 (Shadman 9, Haque 4) Hazlewood half heartedly appeals for an lbw to Shadman but it pitched outside leg and they don’t send it upstairs as a result. A leg bye brings Mominul on strike… he gets off in the mark in style with a punch for four through point. That’s a nerve settler. Mominul then drives confidently but straight to the man at cover. 43 more runs needed for Bangladesh, you can cut the tension with a spoon.
3rd over: Bangladesh 9-1 (Shadman 9, Haque 0) Shot! Starc goes a smidge too full and Shadman flays through point for four. The Bangladesh fans in the stadium loved that. Shadman then calmly collects a single off the next to keep strike.
2nd over: Bangladesh 4-1 (Shadman 4, Haque 0) Mominul Haque in at first drop. I wonder if Bangladesh throw the blade at a few to take a chunk out of this small target, the last thing they want to do is go into their shell and give Starc and Hazlewood a sense of blood in the water.
Hazlewood is right on the button, he completes a wicket maiden and bustles off into the field. Over to Starc, how are the nerves?
WICKET! Tanzid Hasan b Hazlewood 0 (Bangladesh 4-1)
There’s one! Josh Hazelwood beats first innings centurion Tanzid Hasan with a beauty that nips back and rattles the timbers. Err, do not adjust your set.
1st over: Bangladesh 4-0 (Shadman 4, Hasan 0) Sometimes mother cricket shines upon you. Starc charges in and bowls a fourth stump line to Shadman Islam who is caught in two minds between defending and leaving, he ends up poking heal heartedly at the last possible second, the ball flying off his inside edge, past his stumps and away for four.
Look in the book!
Thanks Geoff and hi everyone. What a performance from Bangladesh, they are on the cusp of one of the great Test match upsets. Mitchell Starc prowls at the top of his mark, he won’t think this is done and dusted yet. Shadman Islam and Tanzid Hasan to open up for the visitors. Deep breaths, let’s play.
Alright, I’m out of here. For the final stanza, Jim Wallace.
Bangladesh need 57 to win the Darwin Test
This has been a stunningly professional performance by Bangladesh. They have literally not have a bad session. They have consistently done exactly what they needed to do. They batted so well in their first innings that Australia could only exceed that score by 56 runs batting twice. And every time an Australian partnership threatened to build in the second dig, threatening to change that equation, they bored their way through. A small chase to finish this off, and it should be a token equation, but who knows, the Australian bowlers might yet create some final wobbles.
WICKET! Lyon lbw Mehidy 15, Australia 284 all out
The sweep is Lyon’s undoing in the end, playing over the top of the ball from Mehidy. Over the wicket, it’s going on dead straight and strikes Lyon in front of off stump, hitting middle. Lyon reviews just in case but there is no deux ex machina. Mehidy takes five in the innings, which denies Hasan Mahmud the chance to take ten in the match. But none of that will matter to these players as much as the fact that they have an almost certain chance, barring some absolute disaster, of becoming the first 11 players from their country to win a Test in Australia.
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95th over: Australia 284-9 (Lyon 15, Hazlewood 0) Hasan Mahmud bombs Hazlewood, or tries to, but it’s down leg side. He looks too nice to be menacing. He’s more comfortable back on a length at the stumps. It’s the keeper botching the next bouncer, fumbling the take so they’re able to steal a bye. Then a Lyon back cut adds one more.
The lead is 56.
94th over: Australia 282-9 (Lyon 14, Hazlewood 0) Lyon gets a horrible ball from Mehidy, full outside leg stump, and sweeps it fine, then adds two more by playing the reverse. The lead is 54. Do these two have a Shami-Bumrah stand in them?
93rd over: Australia 278-9 (Lyon 10, Hazlewood 0) So we’ve got Hazlewood here, but not Green, which rather dents the chance of replicating Wellington.
WICKET! Green b Hasan 104, Australia 278-9
Ton and done! So close now for Bangladesh, and they’ve pouched the most dangerous bat. He’s just lumped one ball over the fence, but he hit a bunch of those in Wellington. There was construction but no explosion. And now that pitch has done its bit, and so has Hasan Mahmud, who is one wicket away from 10 in the match. Good line, good length, testing around off stump, and the ball keeps slightly low. Green comes down on it, and doesn’t quite get the toe but gets it very low on the bat. Slight angle, where a straight bat could still have kept it out. Tired technique perhaps affecting that bat position. Back onto the stumps for the umpteenth (stumpteenth?) chop-on in this match.
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92nd over: Australia 276-8 (Green 102, Lyon 10) The Green conversation is going to be an interesting one. A really dubious trend is the casting of critique as “noise”. Mitch Starc after Day 1 talked about “outside noise” about Green’s career, and commentators have started taking up the term. Players get picked to make runs, so observing that they haven’t made runs is a very simple and legitimate thing. Now Green has, and has played in a way that he looks comfortable with through this innings. The temperament, the patience, the control are fine aspects.
Two runs off the Mehidy over, swept by Lyon.
Century! Cameron Green 100 from 192 balls
91st over: Australia 274-8 (Green 102, Lyon 8) A rasping cover drive off Taskin for two, a shot through midwicket for two more, and with Nathan Lyon testing out his repaired calf muscle with that sprinted second and a dive, Cameron Green has scored his first Test century on home soil. His third overall, and a long wait for it. No doubt he has underperformed with the bat relative to his talent through sections of his career. Here, he’s the only reason that Australia haven’t already lost this Test.
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90th over: Australia 267-8 (Green 96, Lyon 8) Sweep shot! We’ve not seen many against Mehidy. Lyon gets out his pet stroke (that’s also what happens when you pat your dog). Three runs. Green with one more to make sure he keeps strike against pace.
89th over: Australia 263-8 (Green 95, Lyon 5) Now the action is on: a six and a dropped catch. First Green thumps the pull shot off Taskin over midwicket, then he drives one back past, and Taskin shoots out his right hand, but the ball’s just too far away, hitting fingertips rather than palm.
During Green’s first Test ton in Wellington, he added 116 with Hazlewood for the last wicket. So he’s done this sort of job before. Australia lead by 35.
88th over: Australia 257-8 (Green 89, Lyon 5) Eventful over! Lyon first edges past slip, gets a couple, then should have been run out! Off the pad to square, not sure whose call that is but they go, and Hasan Mahmud at square leg gathers and pings at the non-striker’s end. It’s off target but fast and flat, and Mehidy opts to put his leg in the way in an effort to deflect the ball onto the stumps. I think if he’d been in position there with his hands, and lunged towards the stumps afterwards, he would still have beaten Lyon’s lunge home. As it is, Mehidy only gets a fat bruise on the back of his calf, and the ball goes nowhere near the target.
87th over: Australia 251-8 (Green 88, Lyon 1) Taskin started that over on the pads, flicked through square leg for Green’s run. But he ends it with the wicket, then a single to Lyon that keeps the No10 on strike.
WICKET! Starc c Litton b Taskin 18, Australia 250-8
That is huge, huge, huge for Bangladesh! As long as Starc was there with Green, there was a chance that he could produce another of his Test fifties, support Green to a hundred, and take that lead into triple figures. Now, a result like that would need Green to play like he did in Wellington, when he piled on runs with Josh Hazlewood.
Similar ball to the one that beat Starc earlier, except a bit less bounce, so Starc pushes at it and this time gets the nick. He gives it the token walk-off review, which is the worst part of DRS, but that only confirms his edge.
86th over: Australia 245-7 (Green 87, Starc 14) Mehidy Hasan Miraz is the other bowler, with four wickets already: a fifty and a five-for in a Test is a pretty tasty combination for an all-rounder. It doesn’t happen here, just the habitual Green single.
85th over: Australia 244-7 (Green 86, Starc 14) Taskin Ahmed to launch the first broadside after the break. Green looks very solid, defending a couple before driving a run straight, but Taskin suddenly looks far more dangerous bowling to Starc. Some angle across, lift from the surface, like he bashed the ball in, and Starc is leg-side of the line and trying to make contact as it lifts past his edge and past the stumps. The next one has him tangled up, edged into pad as well.
Players back out in the middle after the cheese and tomato sangers and a cup of green cordial. Shall we?
Lunch, Day 3 - Australia 7 for 243
Bangladesh’s session, once again! Three wickets in it: Carey, Webster, Cummins. Runs given away as well though, the deficit is gone. The other part of the equation is Cameron Green, who finally come good in Test cricket, and shown strength under pressure.
84th over: Australia 243-7 (Green 85, Starc 14) Mehidy with the last over before the break, more singles are accumulated as Green knocks the ball about.
83rd over: Australia 240-7 (Green 83, Starc 13) Another bottom edge from Green. Wide ball, cross bat whack, could have chopped on. No run. Four of them from the next ball though, overpitched by Hasan Mahmud and creamed. Another punch for one. Starc drives a couple. Runs indeed coming so much more easily with the new ball. Could it have been the wrong rein to pull? Or do you rely on it to bring you more chances, even at cost?
Australia lead by 12. Make that 120 and there’s a game afoot.
82nd over: Australia 233-7 (Green 78, Starc 11) Mehidy with the new ball, spin, but it seems easier to hit, they work four singles from him.
81st over: Australia 229-7 (Green 76, Starc 9) Hasan Mahmud immediately takes the new Kooka. He has eight for the match, could he make it ten? A leg bye takes Australia into the lead. Hasan bowls a bit too wide to Green to start with.
80th over: Australia 228-7 (Green 76, Starc 9) And with the last over before the new ball, four runs are scored, and scores are level! Now what? If Bangladesh take wickets with the new ball, they win. If they don’t, Australia could still bat their way to something usable.
79th over: Australia 224-7 (Green 73, Starc 8) Finally Green has a go at one! Length ball and straight from Taijul, and Green can slot it through midwicket, flat. Four. The deficit is almost gone.
78th over: Australia 219-7 (Green 68, Starc 8) Racing towards the second new ball, Bangladesh have three overs to go. Take it or continue with spin? Green gets another single, hasn’t played a shot with higher ambitions than that for a few hours. Starc gropes about in defence, then finds a run into the off side.
77th over: Australia 216-7 (Green 66, Starc 7) Taijul Islam is just hammering through these overs. Bowling over the wicket to Starc, left armer to left-hander, and sends down six dot balls, tight to the off stump.
76th over: Australia 216-7 (Green 66, Starc 7) Brilliant fielding! Starc cuts again, this time Mehidy, but there’s a furious chase and dive and flick back just inside the rope to save a run. Australia are down by 12.
75th over: Australia 212-7 (Green 65, Starc 4) Going on Ashes form, I’d be banking on Starc with the bat more than Cummins. And on cue, he cuts his first ball for four. Taijul the bowler.
74th over: Australia 207-7 (Green 64) If I had time, I would count up how many times Green has scored a single from the first ball of an over. The answer is many. Cummins falls off the last. The deficit is 21.
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WICKET! Cummins c Shadman b Mehidy 8, Australia 207-7
Well, Cummins ain’t there no more! Mehidy gets another, turn into the right hander, standard dismissal at short leg: inside edge, pad, caught at chest height.
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73rd over: Australia 206-6 (Green 63, Cummins 8) Taijul to Cummins, who is playing back a lot, and does so here to take the ball away through square leg. Comes back for the second. Gets another brace from the next ball, an inside edge behind square. While Cummins is there, runs tend to follow.
72nd over: Australia 202-6 (Green 63, Cummins 4) Green doing the full giraffe at the lagoon routine to block out Mehidy off the front foot. Toe of the bat as he jams out another. Gets a single, Cummins takes strike, Mehidy errs on leg stump and gets shovelled through leg for one.
71st over: Australia 200-6 (Green 62, Cummins 3) The 200 comes up, the deficit is 28. Taijul Islam turns a ball! Away from the edge, Cummins prodding, beaten. That had some fizz.
70th over: Australia 198-6 (Green 61, Cummins 2) Oof! Not far away! Mehidy skids the ball through and hits Cummins on the back pad, but he’s hit just outside the line of off stump, and I suspect that the ball was missing too.
69th over: Australia 196-6 (Green 60, Cummins 1) Taijul carries on, Green drives a single down the ground. Turning over strike has been a big shortcoming of his at times in his career, but he’s done it really well today.
68th over: Australia 195-6 (Green 59, Cummins 1) Mehidy bowls the last over before drinks, working away at Pat Cummins. Defence is the order of the day, although Cummins has an unconvincing poke at one ball outside his off stump. Bangladesh are growing in confidence, but this game is not theirs yet.
67th over: Australia 195-6 (Green 59, Cummins 1) Double spin. Taijul Islam comes on for a left-arm variation, and goes for a couple of singles.
66th over: Australia 193-6 (Green 57) Wicket last ball of the over. Cummins will be next in.
WICKET! Webster b Mehidy 5, Australia 193-6
What a delivery! The off-spinner bowls one that behaves like a left-arm orthodox. Mehidy from over the wicket, curves the ball in but it hits the cheek of the ball and skids on towards off stump. Webster is stuck on the crease, poking down the line of middle where he expects the off break to end up. Instead it scoots past his outside edge and takes off stump. They’re into the bowlers! Still 35 runs to the good, Bangladesh.
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65th over: Australia 192-5 (Green 57, Webster 5) The runs are dribbling along for Australia. Green is finding singles easily now. Taskin adds a no-ball. Deficit down to 36.
64th over: Australia 188-5 (Green 55, Webster 4) Mehidy has 2 for 26 so far. Single for Green this over, Webster misses a sweep in unconvincing style.
63rd over: Australia 187-5 (Green 54, Webster 4) Taskin Ahmed’s first bowl for the day. He hit Green’s leg stump yesterday but the bail didn’t come off. Today he’s aiming at Webster, who blocks out five balls before slamming the sixth to the cover boundary.
Only 41 runs behind now.
62nd over: Australia 183-5 (Green 54, Webster 0) Mehidy through another six balls, Green takes a brace to midwicket.
Half century! Green 52 from 109 balls
61st over: Australia 181-5 (Green 52, Webster 0) My word. Did we say this pitch was flat? Well the bounce is pancake height. That ball from Hasan Mahmud crawls along the floor like David Hasselhoff chasing a burger. If that was in line with the stumps, Green would have been gone. The next one nearly gets him too, seaming in and jammed away from the stumps by the bat. And the last ball of the over Green drives straight for his fifty.
60th over: Australia 178-5 (Green 49, Webster 0) Beau Webster to the middle, blocks his first three balls.
WICKET! Carey c Litton b Mehidy 30, Australia 178-5
There it is for Bangladesh! And still with a lead of 50. Mehidy comes around the wicket, floats his off-breaks in, straightens them down the line. Carey goes down the wrong line, more leg stump, even though that ball pitches more on middle. It turns away slightly, grazes the edge, and is well caught. Such a dangerous player gone, and now Bangladesh are one wicket away from the bowlers.
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59th over: Australia 177-4 (Green 48, Carey 30) Another nick for four! Carey throws the bat, this time it slashes wider between slip and gully, and Hasan can only lift his eyes skywards again.
58th over: Australia 173-4 (Green 48, Carey 26) Another quick over from Mehidy, only scoring shot is a Green dab past the keeper.
57th over: Australia 171-4 (Green 46, Carey 26) Oh, edged but safe! Hasan Mahmud gets a genuine nick from Carey, high on the bat, that’s fine bowling. But it dips as it nears the keeper, and dives under his glove. There’s no first slip, but slip would have been set deeper and wouldn’t have got that either. Carey gets four. Keeper was wrong-footed on the replay, weight wasn’t going the right way, that looks like a blunder from Litton Das. Would have got there had he started in the right spot.
56th over: Australia 166-4 (Green 45, Carey 22) Switching up the bowlers: Taijul off, Mehidy Hasan on. Burns through an over in which Carey can’t score, even from a short wide one that he belts straight at the field.
55th over: Australia 166-4 (Green 45, Carey 22) Pace from the other end, Hasan Mahmud around the wicket to Carey. Draws a thick outside edge to deep backward point, the Aussie keeper gets off strike. There’s absolutely nothing for the bowler from this old ball on this track. So the question is how Bangladesh can get through these next 25 overs without giving too much away.
54th over: Australia 165-4 (Green 45, Carey 21) The left-arm spinner begins the day, Taijul Islam bowling very full for the most part. Green steps to leg to force a single through point, which is a bold choice first over of the day.
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Let’s go!
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Preamble
Are you ready? We are about to begin a Cusp of History day. This could be – could be – the day that Bangladesh win a Test match in Australia, something that literally not one single person on this planet would have thought realistic even a few days ago.
However, this could be, and perhaps more realistically will turn out to be, the kind of jam that a team like Australia can still wriggle out of. The pitch isn’t doing much, the quality of batting to come is decent, and even a modest lead could be enough to spook the visiting batters.
So here’s the deal. Bangladesh need a wicket this morning. They need a good piece of bowling, or a bad mistake, to get rid of either Cameron Green or Alex Carey, and set back Australia’s chance to salvage this match.
Right now the Australians are 67 runs behind and four wickets down. Can they turn this around?
