Starc takes ten as Australia win inside two days to level the series after Darwin

Australia beat Bangladesh by an innings and 51 runs inside two days at Mackay to level the two-match series 1-1, Mitchell Starc taking 10 for 51 in the match. Bangladesh were dismissed for 64 and 95, the first side in 21 years to be bowled out for under 100 twice in a Test. Shoriful Islam’s 7 for 48 was the best innings return by a Bangladesh bowler in an away Test.

Mackay, Australia: A week ago Bangladesh beat Australia in Darwin — their first Test win on Australian soil, achieved faster than any Asian side has managed it. On Sunday afternoon at the Great Barrier Reef Arena, the reply arrived, and it took barely two days.

Eighteen wickets had fallen on the opening day at the venue’s Test debut. The second produced twelve more, and by mid-afternoon the second shortest Test ever played in Australia — and the fourth shortest anywhere — was over.

Green Holds It Together, Shoriful Ends It

Australia resumed on 165 for 8 and added 45. Cameron Green, unbeaten on 51 overnight, took his score to 67 before Shoriful Islam produced an inswinging yorker that no batter answers, and Nathan Lyon moved from 10 to an unbeaten 32 before Josh Hazlewood skied Taijul Islam to Shadman Islam at midwicket.

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That closed the innings at 210 — a lead of 146, and the only total of the match to pass three figures. Shoriful finished with 7 for 48, the best innings figures a Bangladesh bowler has produced in an away Test, and the second successive match in which he had taken at least six.

Starc Picks Up Where He Left Off

Within an hour of Bangladesh’s second innings, the prospect of Australia batting again had gone.

Starc, who had taken 6 for 12 on the opening day, added 4 for 39 to finish with match figures of 10 for 51 — his best in a home Test. Pat Cummins took 3 for 10 from three overs. Nathan Lyon claimed 3 for 25, including the final two wickets in three balls after tea.

Bangladesh were bowled out for 95 in 38.3 overs. Added to their first-innings 64, it made them the first team in 21 years to be dismissed twice for under 100 in the same Test, and the first Bangladesh side ever to suffer it.

A Week That Turned Completely

The contrast with Darwin is the story of this tour. There, Bangladesh won by nine wickets to record only their second Test victory over Australia and their first in this country, doing it in their third match Down Under — quicker than India, who needed twelve, or Pakistan, who needed seven.

Here, they were dismantled on a bouncy surface by an Australian attack that answered every question asked of it.

“A much better week. We knew we were not at our best in Darwin,” said Starc, named Player of the Match and Player of the Series, adding that Bangladesh deserved credit for the way they had played in the first Test.

An Unsatisfying Split

Both dressing rooms have reason for frustration. Bangladesh leave a first tour of Australia in 23 years having produced the finest result in their Test history and then one of the worst. Australia needed until the second match to find their cricket, and Josh Hazlewood suggested afterwards the pitch had not deserved a two-day finish.

Cameron Green, who top-scored, called it a good series. It was certainly a short one.

Result: Australia 210 (Cameron Green 67, Nathan Lyon 32*; Shoriful Islam 7-48) beat Bangladesh 64 (Mitchell Starc 6-12) and 95 (38.3 ov; Starc 4-39, Cummins 3-10, Lyon 3-25) by an innings and 51 runs
Player of the Match and Series: Mitchell Starc — 10-51
Series: Drawn 1-1
Venue: Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay