Starc floors Bangladesh and brings them crashing back down to earth

ICC World Test Championship

We all can finally take a deep breath!! What was that Mackay? The second Test between Australia and Bangladesh lasted a little over five sessions, 750 balls to be precise with Australia claiming an innings and a 51-run victory to level the series 1-1. The blistering Mitchell Starc wrecked havoc on the Bangladesh batting lineup, breaking plenty of records on the way to his fourth career 10-wicket haul, winning both Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards in the process. Pat Cummins corrected his decision from last game by winning the toss and opting to bowl on a rapid Mackay pitch which had extra bounce and more pace than Darwin. The 36-year old left-arm pacer from New South Wales unleashed chaos with his opening spell, leaving Bangladesh 12-5 in 6.4 overs as they eventually folded for 64, their fourth lowest total in cricket. 18 wickets fell on Day 1 and 12 more on the second, making this the second shortest Test ever, Downunder.

Bangladesh, who were on a high following their first ever Test match victory in Australia at Darwin, could not handle the angry comeback from their opponents. Although their bowlers, especially Shoriful showed some fight, the batters could not adapt to the late swing produced by Starc, getting all out for 95 in the second innings and eventually 51 short of Australia’s first innings total. The batters did not have much to do as from both sides with bowlers dominated the whole proceedings, still Cameron Green in particular and Steve Smith provided a template on how to bat on this surface. Both of them put together a partnership of 77 for the fourth-wicket and Green continued to fight, scoring a significant 67 to follow his hundred from the last Test. Matt Renshaw, who replaced Jake Weatherland at the top, got out for eight whereas Marcus Labuschagne, who was under severe pressure was bowled around his legs for 4. Shoriful took 7-48, the best bowling figures for a Bangladeshi pacer ever but they were not enough for the visitors. There were no changes in the WTC rankings post this result with Australia staying at the top in the table and Bangladesh sitting in the fourth position. The visitors climbed to sixth from ninth position in the ICC Test rankings for the first time ever and now sit at No.6 ahead of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and West Indies.

Hit the stumps and get the desired results

Mitchell Starc arrived in style, albeit a game late than the hosts had asked for. It’s no mystery that Australian bowlers were not at their best in Darwin. They bowled a shorter length than the Bangladeshi bowlers and did not target the stumps enough thus, unable to create any pressure on a batting group which had never played in this country before. Learning this lesson quickly, Mitchell Starc was on point from the start. He dismissed Shadman Islam with the very first delivery of this clash and completed his 19th career fifer in merely 22 deliveries, dismissing four batters for 0. Bangladesh couldn’t adjust with the late movement Starc generated and used the fuller length with great effect getting Tanzid and Mominul caught at slip with the one that swung late. Hazelwood was tight like he always is, keeping the pressure by not letting the score tick along. Cummins was quite short in his opening spell but the moment he hit the right length, he got the wicket of 39-year old Mushfiqur Rahim who was bowled with a perfect delivery going through his big bat and pad gap. 

Mitchell Starc became the highest wicket taker in the World Test Championship with 234 wickets

Bangladesh's batting, was in shambles. Their tenth-wicket partnership scored 25 out of 64 runs, which showed the whole state of their batting at Mackay. The number 11 top scored with 14 runs. There were a few loose shots as well, but the genius of Mitchell Starc was too hot to handle for the visitors. The hosts repeated their act once again in the second innings and this time Pat Cummins also made the correct adjustment, bowling a dream spell of 3-10 in 10 overs. Starc didn’t let them settle even for a bit, striking early twice. There was a brief partnership between Captain Shanto and Mushfiq but a disappointing shot from their skipper ended the resistance. Instead of playing Lyon along the ground, he chipped one straight to Cummins at long-off leaving the side in huge trouble.

Australia were not better off with the bat either as Shoriful Islam bowled a dream spell of 7-48. Bangladesh, missed the catch of Green early in his innings, otherwise they could have been in a slightly better position. The fuller length worked once again and Shoriful's late swing became a menace. Lyon finished the game with two wickets in three balls post Tea on Day 2, bringing a painful end to this historic tour which started on a beautiful note for the Asian nation. Shanto asked for frequent touring opportunities against bigger nations in the future, hoping that this result can inspire a change so Bangladesh do not have to wait for another 23 years before another riveting Test series is arranged between these two countries.

Shoriful matches Starc but misses support

Mackay served us a spicy pitch on its debut which a lot of the players referred to as being similar to Gabba adding extra bounce and pace which was lacking in Darwin. Mitchell Starc set the template for others, producing a typical spell with the new ball. The late swing that Starc generates at 140+ clicks has becomes a pain for the visiting players in tough conditions, specifically in the past few years since the Australian pitches have become exceedingly conducive to bowling. The 36-year old broke a number of records on his way to a career fourth 10-wicket haul, second most for left-arm pacers behind Wasim Akram's five:

• Starc removed the top-five for Bangladesh within 22 deliveries, the sixth fastest effort in history. Starc also holds the fastest five-wicket haul, a 15-ball burst versus West Indies at Kingston in 2025. 
• Starc took 109 balls to complete his 10-wicket haul, the fifth fastest ever and fastest for his country. Incidentally, Starc also held the previous record for Australia, doing it in 123 balls against England in Perth last year.
• Starc has now taken a wicket of the first ball in a Test match four times going past Pedro Collins of West Indies, who held the record with three. He also holds the record for highest wickets in the first over of a Test match with 9, one more than Sir Jimmy Anderson's 8. Anderson leads the list of most wickets in the first over of an innings with 29. Starc has 28.
• Starc also broke into the top-10 wicket takers in the world with 455 wickets and has the best Strike Rate in that list of 45.6. South Africa's Dale Steyn, who is at the eleventh spot in all-time wicket-takers has the best Strike Rate of 42.3 for bowlers with a minimum of 350 wickets in Test cricket. Kagiso Rabada is closing in on the record having collected 340 wickets @ 39.6.
• Mitchell Starc became the fourth player in history to win a hat-trick of the Player of the Series award in Test cricket after Ravichandran Ashwin, Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan with all three winning it in four consecutive series.

The news of Shoriful Islam's availability for the second Test came as a huge boost after he missed the previous one due to a hamstring injury. Already missing the services of Nahid Rana, Bangladeshi bowlers did an excellent job in Darwin and dominated the proceedings from start to finish. Shoriful was drafted in the XI straightaway in place of Ebadot Hossain, who has a tendency be a tad inconsistent. Funnily, Shoriful ended the first innings as his team's highest scorer. Watching Starc unleash hell on the batters from the bench, Shoriful had to wait for his chance with Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud taking the new ball. A tiny total of 64 was never going to be enough to challenge the Australian batting unit in the first innings. Bangladesh tried their best to limit the score they were going to chase in the second innings thanks to Shoriful's burst with his second spell, which gave them a fighting chance. 

Shoriful Islam completed a maiden fifer in his 14th Test outing

The 25-year old gave a trailer of what was to come in his inaugural over when he went through the defences of both Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne. Cam Green and Steve Smith targeted the likes of Taskin and Mahmud in a rapid 77-run partnership. Bangladesh's new-ball pair were disappointing on a fast-bowling paradise post their heroic performance in the opening fixture. While Taskin over-stepped continuously in his first spell, Mahmud kept pitching it short and wide, feeding the hosts multiple boundary balls. Shoriful was called back out of desperation and he got the wicket of Smith with the fifth ball of his second spell trapping him in front of the stumps. Webster went next off a similar delivery, getting LBW for a golden duck followed by a brutal bouncer to Cummins, who could not get out of the way and gave a simple catch to Litton Das. Starc got a taste of his own medicine from his counterpart, who bowling with a straighter one that went past his outside edge and hit the off stump. However, it was the swinging yorker to Green on the morning of Day 2 which caught him plumb in front of the wicket sending the batter to the ground and getting the decision overturned on DRS.

• Shoriful's 7-48 is the best figures for any Bangladeshi pacer in the longest format and the third best figures overall. This effort is also the best ever by any Bangladeshi player outside their home country.
• Shoriful Islam also became the first left-arm fast bowler to take a 7-wicket haul in Australia since 1886. 
• Shorful is now the 21st bowler and the 10th pacer from the country to take a fifer in Test cricket.

The major difference between these two teams was the contrasting performances of their supporting fast bowlers. Although Starc went berserk early, finishing the first innings with figures of 6-12 in 10 overs, the contribution of Hazelwood and Cummins helped continue the pressure on the visitors. Both of them combined to take 4-43 at an economy of 2.05. Stark again topped the wicket-taking charts in the second innings, taking 4-39 and yet again the supporting bowlers never allowed their opponents to settle down. Cummins who was slightly on the shorter side in both Darwin and the first innings in Mackay, adapted beautifully to bowl a perfect spell of 3-10 in 10 overs. Lyon took three wickets of his own which included captain Shanto's dimissal, whom he deceived in the air and forced a simple mishit straight to long-off. Comparing with Bangladesh, Shoriful's magical 7-48 was the only reason they limited Australia to a score of 210. Mehidy and Taijul took a couple of wickets and bowled at an economy of less than two but the red flag came in form of their opening pair. Both of them delivered 26 overs together, taking just one wicket and giving away runs at an economy of 4.8 each. Green and Smith took advantage of their erratic bowling and even Lyon completely laid into these two finishing with a 32 not out on a pitch where the Bangladesh team averaged below 7.5 Across both ends. The onus of this defeat obviously lies on the batting department. However, the terrible bowling display by both Taskin and Mahmud, on a dream track for fast bowling, added to the despair of the Asian country.

Mackay serves up a nightmare for batters

There was always a mystery surrounding the outlook of the playing surface on Mackay's Test debut as it became the 12th venue in Australia and 127th overall to get a taste of International red ball cricket. Following Darwin’s disappointment, Pat Cummins was clear on his decision to bowl after winning the toss. Things happened so quickly that both the teams hardly got a chance to analyse and make a plan on how to survive here. Bangladesh registered seven single-digit scores which included four ducks. Their number 11, Shoriful Islam added 14 which was the highest scores in the first innings lasting for only 34 overs.

It is a common saying in cricket "that you do not judge a pitch until both sides have batted on it". The under-fire batting lineup lost three early wickets but Smith-Green's fourth wicket stand settle their nerves. Once Steve Smith got out, Shoriful tore through the batting unit leaving them 148-8 at stumps on Day 1. 18 wickets fell on the opening day of Mackay debut Test. There was more to come on the next morning. The hosts pushed the score towards 210, thus leading the game by 146 runs. As soon as the visitors came to bat, Starc started breathing fire once again, dismissing both Shadman and Mominul off consecutive deliveries in the third over of the innings. Bangladesh tried to re-build but Shanto's disappointing dismissal against Lyon after getting his eye in, again opened up the floodgates for Australia and they did not let go of this opportunity. Cummins came into his own and combined with Lyon to finish them on 95 thus winning the fixture by an innings and 51 runs. Most of the wickets that fell in the second innings were more of the mistakes committed by batters who were playing here for the first time since 2003 rather than the bowling being unplayable. Even if we cut them some slack, the hosts themselves could not survive the bowling of Bangladesh which in comparison to Australia was quite inexperienced. 

Here are a few Stat nuggets from the two-day Test at Mackay:

• 750 balls to conclude this Test became the fourth shortest overall and the second shortest completed match in Australia in terms of balls bowled. India vs South Africa at Cape Town in 2024 which took 642 balls and South Africa vs Australia at MCG in 656 balls hold the records respectively.
• Four of the five shortest Tests in Australia have come in the past four years. The recent Ashes matches at Perth and Melbourne, Australia versus South Africa Brisbane in 2022 round up the top five. 
• 64 in the first innings from Bangladesh was their fourth lowest all out innings total in Test cricket while the match aggregate of 159 was their lowest ever. Scores of 64 & 95 are also the fourth instance of a team getting all out below 100 in both innings.
• Australia's first innings score of 210 was the fourth lowest that resulted in an innings win and the lowest since 1946.

Batting has become extremely difficult in countries outside Asia recently. Several games have ended within two or three days as teams try to capitalise on their strengths by rolling out extreme pictures which help the fast bowlers from ball one. Since the start of 1 Oct 2022, batters average 26.82 in Australia with the home side averaging 33 versus 21.7 for the visitors. In the 10 year period before this, batters had averaged 33.32 with Australians averaging a whopping 41.71 versus 26.85 for the away team. In the past four years, South Africa, West Indies and Australia have the worst batting average in 8, 13 and 22 home Tests respectively.

Surprising part is that there has not been enough outrage over these extreme pace-friendly conditions as there is when a spin-friendly surface is prepared in Asia. Yes, there is a general understanding that in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, pitches get better to bat on as the match progress with the early help slowly diminishing due to sun beating down. However, if 12 out of the 15 shortest Tests in the past five years have been outside Asia, can we really use this argument every time? Agreed that the Mackay wicket does not belong to the extreme friendly category and the batters failed to apply themselves, one would still feel that for a team who has not been on tour Downunder since 2003, in England since 2010 and merely one two-match series each in South Africa and New Zealand, since the inception of WTC, Australia were too desperate to roll-out such a track in a bid to save themselves from another poor result.

Batting fails miserably but Bangladesh make giant strides

It is safe to say that Bangladesh was not ready for whatever was going to hit them following their one-sided victory at Darwin. Australia are always expected to come back harder and it was no surprise with what we witnessed in the second Test. The Asian side have always found bouncy surfaces tough to play on, the evidence being their results versus Zimbabwe and in the Warm-up game here. Australia’s rustiness was also a very big factor behind their loss at Darwin but you can't take anything away from a team which won 11 sessions and didn’t give them an inch in the previous clash. Forced to bat by skipper Pat Cummins, Bangladesh lost a wicket on the first ball of this fixture. More wickets followed, as the never found the right technique to survive here, folding for just 64.

The second innings was no better. 7 ducks, 6 double-digit scores and a highest of 31 across both innings is never bound to make a match close. Their batters also played some poor shots which led to their downfall and allowed Australia to tie the series 1-1. Opener Shadman Islam got out the same way in all three innings, closing the face of his bat too early against the left-arm angle of Mitchell Starc which went straight to either gully and point region. Shadman has several chinks in his armor but this weakness became somewhat evident and other teams will take notes before preparing for him. Litton Das had a horror tour, scoring a hat-trick of zeroes which was truly disappointing from the experienced better who had scored a marvelous century in his last clash versus Pakistan. They were other letdowns as well, like Mominul leaving a straight one, Shanto gifting his wicket to Lyon after adding an important partnership in the second and Mehdi chasing an unnecessary short ball, which went straight to Alex Carey.

Before the start of the series, this kind of performance was expected from them but what came as a pleasant surprise was their temperamental play at Darwin. Bangladesh dominated Australia and scored 426 in response to their 198. The bowling was perfect for them in both the Tests, even though they were missing the threat of their promising speedster Nahid Rana. As mentioned in my preview of this game, I had mentioned the visitors should add an extra better in place of Taijul Islam to Give them a cushion down the order, given the limited and non-performing role of Taijul outside Asia especially since they already have Mehidy Hasan as a spin-bowling option. Bangladesh has earned a promotion in the ICC Test rankings and now set ahead of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies at No. 6. This is the first-time ever they have achieved a higher ranking in Test cricket other than No. 9, which is a remarkable achievement for a side always considered as a pushover in this format. This defeat also did not have any major effect on their standing in the WTC rankings. Bangladesh are placed at fourth after six appearances and still have four home Tests versus West Indies and England, as well as a two-match tour of South Africa later this year. They can actually dream of making the top two in case they win at least four of them, and a few other results their way, which would be one of the biggest achievements in World cricket history. Right now, they should savor this moment and put behind this disappointment behind them to enjoy and assess the magnitude of what they achieved on this tour.

Australia leaves the series with more questions than answers

Australian cricket team wo have dominated the longest format in cricket for more than 25 years. Their home summer started on the worst note, losing a Test match to a team which was making barely their third ever appearance on Australian soil and the first in 23 years completely sending shock-waves through world cricket since losing by 9 wickets in the opening test. The hosts are not known to take such setbacks quietly and everyone expected them to come harder as they did, completely blowing away Bangladesh for scores of 64 and 95. Mitchell Starc led the way with a 10-wicket haul while others assisting him beautiful. It has been the batting though which is facing the flak for their failures, which has been masked by their bowling attack for a few years now.

Marnus Labuschagne, their regular No.3 started the game averaging 25.23 from his previous 42 innings, with some suggesting that this might be his final chance to save a dying Test career. Already living on bought time, Marnus could not turn things around scoring 36 runs in this series. He came into bat at the end of the third over and played just nine balls with the single scoring shot being an edge through slips. Shoriful bowled Labuschagne down the leg side, before the ball brushed his pads and knocked over stumps. It was an unfortunate dismissal, drawing curtains on a disappointing run forcing Australia to look elsewhere for the crucial No.3 spot. They had also replaced opener Jake Weatherald, who had played just six matches since his debut in the Ashes and managing only one 50+ score with a returning Matt Renshaw who was dismissed for eight, caught in the slips and did not get a chance to bat again. 

There are plenty of spots up for grabs in the Australian national side for a busy period of red-ball cricket

Even the recently promoted Travis Head could not go past 22 across the the innings getting out in a similar manner, inside edge on the stumps every time. The problem however, is deeper than we can imagine. Australia do not have a single name who has stood out in the domestic scene and made a case for the top 3 positions in domestic cricket. A few candidates have made a stake for the middle order spots but there is no vacancy in those spots. Cameron Green's break-through series, where he top scored with a century and 67 score has eased off the pressure he was facing following a lean period. Steve Smith and Alex Carey have saved them on multiple occasions in the past two years whereas Beau Webster has not put a foot wrong so far in his career apart from these two outings. The recent change in Australian pitches has caused us huge hole as their batters have not been able to acclimatize with the extreme nature of these bowling-friendly wickets since their debacle at the hands of an under-strength India in the 2021 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Their bowling was always expected to perform well and it’s thanks to their efforts in the final test that they were able to secure a dominant victory.

They are going to play a potential 19 Test matches in the next twelve months across four different continents. Selector George Bailey and head coach Andrew McDonald seem clueless about figuring out what their best batting combination would be for the South Africa tour, less than two months away. There is no clarity on who will bat where and given their tendency to panic in recent years, example Steve Smith and Travis Head being elevated to the opening position post the retirement of David Warner in a desperate attempt to find a his replacement. Head scored 3 centuries in the last year's Ashes as an opener, meaning he should get a long run at the top. Plus, he has been preferred previously at the top in Asian conditions to give a fast start on spin-friendly pitches. However, we are yet to figure out who will be their number 2 & 3 going forward. Cricket Australia's weird scheduling also means they do not get a chance to play a single Sheffield Shield game before the squad is announced for the South Africa series. We will cover this further in a different article. Australia are sitting at the top of the WTC table but everything can change in a matter of months if the results don’t go their way. We can only wait and watch what solution Cricket Australia comes up with for the turmoil. their batting lineup is going through at this point. 

References: Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo