Updates from the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay
18m agoLunch - Bangladesh 39 for 3, trailing Australia by 107
39m agoWICKET! Tanzid c Starc b Cummins 9 (Bangladesh 24-3)
1h agoWICKET! Mominul b Starc 0 (Bangladesh 5-2)
1h agoWICKET! Shadman c Labuschagne b Starc 1 (Bangladesh 5-1)
1h agoAustralia 210 all out
1h agoWICKET! Hazlewood c Shadman b Taijul 6 (Australia 210)
2h agoWICKET! Green lbw Shoriful 67 (Australia 186-9)
Well it’s been an intriguing day’s play so far. Australia’s tail wagged to add some more runs and extend their lead and then Starc got up to his usual tricks, taking two wickets in his second over to make things very difficult for the visitors. Cummins chipped in with a wicket as well to put Australia in a dominant position. But Shanto has continued to play smart, attacking cricket and is keeping Bangladesh in the match. Take a breath and get some lunch and I’ll see you back after the break!
11th over: Bangladesh 39-3 (Mushfiqur 4, Shanto 23) Lyon comes into the attack for the first time this match, as the quicks got the job done in the first innings without even needing to throw Lyon the ball. Renshaw comes in at short leg. Carey appeals for a catch midway through the over, the umpire says no, but Carey is determined there was an edge and talks Cummins into the review. He’ll have to apologise for that later as there was a flat line on snicko as the ball passed the bat. It’s a maiden for Lyon from his first over.
10th over: Bangladesh 39-3 (Mushfiqur 4, Shanto 23) Cummins resumes and Mushfiqur immediately dashes down the pitch to get off strike. Shanto gets a little outside edge, but it falls safely. It’s a tidy over from Cummins – there’s an LBW appeal on the last ball of the over, but he decides it’s drifting down leg so doesn’t review.
9th over: Bangladesh 37-3 (Mushfiqur 3, Shanto 22) Shanto decides to take Starc on this over and starts with two very determined fours. Starc fights back with what looks like an excellent yorker, but turns out to be a massive front foot no ball. He tightens up and the next few balls are good, but Mushfiqur punches one nicely back past Starc for a well-run three to finish the over.
8th over: Bangladesh 24-3 (Mushfiqur 0, Shanto 13) Pat Cummins enters the attack for the first time today, replacing Hazlewood. He starts with a short ball, then gets into niggling away at Tanzid with a great yorker length. Marnus is warming up his bowling, which I can only presume is him trying to sway Cummins into bowling him, rather than a directive to warm up. Cummins takes the wicket for a very succesful first over – a wicket maiden.
Cummins brings himself on with immediate effect, getting Tanzid hitting straight up in the air and landing in the safe hands of Starc at short leg.
7th over: Bangladesh 24-2 (Tanzid 9, Shanto 13) Starc continues with his nagging line and length, but Shanto gets his bat in the way and dashes through for a single. Starc loses his line a little and while Tanzid isn’t scoring off them, Starc wouldn’t be happy that he’s not putting himself in a position to take wickets. He overcorrects and oversteps, giving away a no ball, but the next ball is a very good one that beats the bat.
6th over: Bangladesh 21-2 (Tanzid 8, Shanto 12) Hazlewood starts the next over with a wide-ish bouncer that doesn’t trouble Tanzid too much. The next ball is also short, but nips in a little and Tanzid wisely leaves it alone. Tanzid runs a nice two from an edgy little shot midway through the over, but aside from that it’s an uneventful over.
5th over: Bangladesh 19-2 (Tanzid 6, Shanto 12) Starc resumes and Tanzid clips one away nicely to get off strike and out of danger immediately. Starc throws in a bouncer that Shanto has to duck under. He gets Shanto edging soon afterwards, but the ball flies between slips and gully and not even a diving Green can cut it off and take the catch and it runs away for four. He takes some confidence and plays a strong drive down the ground for four to finish the over.
4th over: Bangladesh 10-2 (Tanzid 5, Shanto 4) Hazlewood is back for another over – he just has the one wicket so far in this match, but he’s been pivotal in piling on the pressure with his consistent and tough line and length. It’s an excellent over from him, providing no let up to the batters.
3rd over: Bangladesh 9-2 (Tanzid 4, Shanto 4) It’s all happening here – Starc missed out on a first over wicket, but he’s making up for lost time with two quick ones here. Shanto smartly leaves the hat trick ball, then drives the next one for four. Starc beats his outside edge next ball – it’s a very eventful over!
Starc is on another hat trick! Mominul wasn’t sure whether to play or leave and he didn’t really do either in the end and Starc went straight through him to take off stump.
Shadman returns to the scene of his first innings nightmare, facing Starc for the first time since losing his wicket to him yesterday. He sees out the first ball, then gets a leading edge to Labuschagne and he has to go.
2nd over: Bangladesh 5-0 (Tanzid 4, Shadman 1) Hazlewood takes the new ball from the other end, bowling to Shadman who was out for a golden duck in the first innings. He immediately gets off the mark and both openers have avoided the dreaded pair. Hazlewood is asking questions with his bowling, getting a little inside edge early in the over. Just the one run from the over.
1st over: Bangladesh 4-0 (Tanzid 4, Shadman 0) Starc doesn’t start the innings with a wicket strangely enough – he misses his yorker length and it’s a full toss on the pad that Tanzid plays down the ground for four, much to his relief after a first innings duck. Starc tightens up that length and Tanzid can’t do much more than defend, but they’ll be pleased not to lose a wicket.
While it wasn’t Australia’s finest batting performance by any measure, they’ll be fairly confident with a lead of 146, having set Bangladesh an uphill battle of a total to chase down. If they can replicate their first innings bowling performance, they’ll do it in a canter. But by all accounts, the pitch is improving for the batters as the match goes on, so it may take some extra special bowling to make that happen.
Bangladesh batted well in Darwin, so they will have some confidence that they can chase this total down and make a match out of this. The key will be avoiding a classic Mitchell Starc first over wicket to keep them on track to score some runs.
It won’t be long until the teams are back out on the field and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seeing what transpires!
Hazlewood tries to up the tempo, but Taijul catches his edge and it flies straight up for a fairly regulation catch for Shadman.
52nd over: Australia 209-9 (Hazlewood 6, Lyon 31) After Taskin’s disastrous first over, he doesn’t get a second and Mehidy Hasan Miraz comes into the attack with his off spin for just his second over of the match, after getting the wicket of Alex Carey in his first over. Hazlewood blocks out the over and it’s a maiden for Mehidy.
51st over: Australia 209-9 (Hazlewood 6, Lyon 31) Hazlewood wants to get into the big hitting action and plays a slog over midwicket that nearly reaches the boundary, but it’s fielded inside the rope and they just run one to get Lyon back on strike. Lyon stays defensive to Taijul’s spin.
50th over: Australia 208-9 (Hazlewood 5, Lyon 31) Taskin Ahmed comes into replace Shoriful and Lyon starts with a nice cover drive for two. A couple of balls later he punches one down the ground straight back over Taskin’s head for three. He’s certainly playing with some freedom. Hazlewood picks up a single by just opening the face of the bat and dashing through to get Lyon back on strike. That turns out to be a smart thing to do because next ball Lyon likes the look of a short ball and pulls it for six! He tries to do the same thing next ball and misses, but it’s also a no ball, so Lyon gets another chance at it. The next one isn’t as confident a shot and it flies up in the air, but lands safely and rolls down to the rope for four.
49th over: Australia 191-9 (Hazlewood 4, Lyon 16) Taijul continues and Lyon finds a run early in the over. Hazlewood plays out the over defensively.
48th over: Australia 190-9 (Hazlewood 4, Lyon 15) The over starts eventfully with a big appeal on Green for LBW. The umpire turns it down, but Bangladesh decide to review. A very good decision, as Green is indeed out. Hazlewood starts very effectively with a punch off the back foot for four. Shoriful then throws in a frustrated bouncer, but Hazlewood doesn’t even have to duck, he just slightly moves his shoulder out of the way. The next ball is a better bouncer, that Hazlewood does duck under.
The ball from Shoriful is a perfect yorker – the epitome of a “sandshoe crusher” as it hits Green on the toe as he desperately tries to get his foot out of the way and his bat involved. An incredible delivery.
47th over: Australia 186-8 (Green 67, Lyon 15) Taijul continues and Lyon has fielders crowding around the bat and being very vocal, but Lyon doesn’t seem bothered, blocking out the over and not breaking a sweat.
46th over: Australia 186-8 (Green 67, Lyon 15) Shoriful starts his next over with a bouncer. Green then finds an opportunity for his pull shot and they run hard to get two. Those are the only runs from the over as Shoriful tightens the screws.
45th over: Australia 184-8 (Green 65, Lyon 15) After that loose over from Hasan, we have Taijul Islam coming into the attack with his left arm orthodox. Green defends the first ball, then rotates the strike to give Lyon a look at his fellow spinner. Just the one run from the over.
44th over: Australia 183-8 (Green 64, Lyon 15) Shoriful resumes and Lyon starts the over defensively. Shoriful throws in a bouncer and then strikes the thigh pad and appeals for LBW, but the umpire isn’t interested and Bangaldesh eventually decide that it’s probably too high to bother reviewing. A maiden from Shoriful.
While these two are batting well at the moment, Australia still has batting concerns overall and Thomas Meehan has some thoughts that he’s sent me via email.
Good Morning Megan, The problem is no one is demanding selection by scoring mountains of runs. Looking up something Picky Ponting mentioned yesterday, from the last Shield season of the top twenty-two run scorers only three average 40 or above: Renshaw, Carey and Weatherald. Best Wishes, Thomas Meehan
The problem is no one is demanding selection by scoring mountains of runs. Looking up something Picky Ponting mentioned yesterday, from the last Shield season of the top twenty-two run scorers only three average 40 or above: Renshaw, Carey and Weatherald.
43rd over: Australia 183-8 (Green 64, Lyon 15) Hasan continues his spell and he picks up where he left off with his line and length targeting the stumps. Midway through the over he loses his line and puts one right in the slot – wide outside off - for Green who cuts it gleefully to the boundary for four. He finishes the over with another four, a powerful drive that slices through the in-field.
42nd over: Australia 173-8 (Green 55, Lyon 14) We get our first look at Shoriful for today after his outstanding performance on day 1. Green starts confidently against the left armer with a well-timed cover drive for two. He is more watchful for the next few balls, before rotating the strike. Lyon reckons he’s got the measure of this guy and drives the first ball he faces for four – the first boundary of the day.
41st over: Australia 166-8 (Green 52, Lyon 10) Green starts on strike with Hasan bowling. He hasn’t yet taken a wicket in this innings (Shoriful has been hogging all the wickets) so he’ll be keen to play his part in bringing Australia’s innings to a close. His first couple of balls are outside off stump and Green is happy to leave them alone. He adjusts his line and brings it in at Green’s stumps – he defends comfortably for a couple of balls and then flicks one off his pads to get off strike with a nicely worked single. Lyon finishes the over with a solid defensive shot.
The teams are out on the field and we’re ready to get underway!
While Australia has a chance to add to their lead today, the batting is still a concern and no one is more concerned than Marnus Labuschagne. The commentators are chatting about him this morning and Mark Waugh is adamant that if he doesn’t score runs in the second innings, his time in the team is over. The problem may be that there aren’t enough runs for him to get to prove himself. I’m interested to hear from you – who do you think should hold the number 3 spot? Is it Marnus? Or have you got your eye on someone else?
And if you’re still wondering why on earth there’s Test cricket happening up in the tropics in winter, you might need to take one more step back and read about what happened in Darwin last week. The always brilliant Geoff Lemon has you covered with a breakdown of Bangladesh’s incredible upset.
You’ve got some time before the first ball is bowled, so why not spend it catching up on yesterday’s action? Here’s the match report to get you up to speed.
Welcome to live OBO coverage of day two of the second Test between Australia and Bangladesh from the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay. Play begins at 10am AEST.
Day one was quite something with 18 wickets falling in the day’s play. While Australia are on top with a lead of 101 runs, they will be disappointed in their inability to really pile on a commanding score and bat Bangladesh out of the contest.
If you asked me to sum up the first day of this Test in three words, I’d have to go with “left arm pace”. Both Mitchell Starc (6-12) and Shoriful Islam (6-35) were on song with the ball and took advantage of a good wicket to snaffle six wickets apiece.
Shoriful also top scored for his team with the bat, however since that top score was 14, he’s probably not in a big hurry to write home about that, despite the fact that his tail-wagging antics frustrated the Australian bowlers no end and saved Bangladesh from recording their lowest-ever Test innings score.
Australia’s batting had a few more bright spots, with Cameron Green passing late in the day and Steve Smith contributing 42. But their opening woes continue with replacement opener Matt Renshaw only able to add eight runs before he was dismissed (surprisingly not by Shoriful).
All this wicket-falling mayhem on day one has set us up brilliantly, so let’s get into the second day and see what it has in store for us!
