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Australia lead Bangladesh by 101 runs after 18 wickets fell on the opening day of the second Test at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on Saturday. Mitchell Starc took 6-12 to dismiss Bangladesh for 64 on a surface offering steep assistance to seam, before Shoriful Islam’s 6-35 left the hosts 165 for 8.
Mackay, Australia: The Great Barrier Reef Arena staged its first Test match on Saturday. It may never stage a stranger one.
Australia won the toss, chose to field, and had Bangladesh back in the pavilion inside 34 overs. Mitchell Starc’s new-ball spell was the sort that ends contests before they start — five wickets inside 22 balls, and eventually 6 for 12 from a spell that gave Bangladesh’s top order no way of playing him.
Bangladesh, who had won the first Test in Darwin by nine wickets, were dismissed for 64.
Then Bangladesh Found Their Own Left-Armer
What followed was not the procession the scoreline invited. Shoriful Islam, playing his first Test in Australia, produced a reply of remarkable symmetry — 6 for 35 from eleven overs, two of them maidens, and a middle-order collapse that cost Australia any chance of putting this beyond reach on day one.
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The hosts had been comfortable. Steven Smith made 42 and Green settled in alongside him. Then Australia lost four wickets for just three runs, and closed on 165 for 8.
Green was still there at the end on 51 from 81 balls with eight fours, an innings the conditions made considerably harder than the strike rate suggests. Nathan Lyon, unbeaten on 10 from 28, was with him at the close.
Two Left-Armers, Twelve Wickets
Starc and Shoriful took 12 of the day’s 18 wickets between them. That the two performances were near-identical in shape — six wickets apiece, both left-arm seam, both exploiting a surface offering more than either captain can have expected — gave the day its symmetry.
For Starc, it was a reminder of what he remains capable of on a helpful pitch. For Shoriful, it was a first Test in Australia and a return of 6 for 35 in it.
Bangladesh Still In It
The context makes this more than a curiosity. Bangladesh arrived in Mackay having beaten Australia in Darwin — their first Test win in this country, achieved in their third attempt, faster than India managed it in twelve Tests or Pakistan in seven.
A lead of 101 with two Australian wickets left is not a commanding position for the hosts. On a pitch where eighteen wickets fell in a day, it may not even be a comfortable one. Bangladesh will fancy their chances of keeping the deficit near three figures, and then facing a fourth-innings target on a surface that has already shown it will do plenty.
Smith’s 42, meanwhile, leaves him eight runs short of moving to third on Australia’s all-time Test run-scoring list, ahead of Steve Waugh’s 10,927.
Stumps, Day 1: Bangladesh 64 (34 ov) — Mitchell Starc 6-12
Australia 165/8 (40 ov) — Cameron Green 51*, Steven Smith 42, Nathan Lyon 10*; Shoriful Islam 6-35
Australia lead by 101 runs
Venue: Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay
