Bangladesh Outsmart Australia in Day One Darwin Test

Danny Byrne on BANGLADESH’s Impressive First Day vs Australia …. “Bangladesh blow Australia away for 198 and set up the potential for a fascinating Test match; Day 1 in Darwin.”

In the end, we took an Uber Taxi to the ground, sharing it with a couple of Woods’ mates who had come up from Melbourne. The journey took only 25 minutes because we did not have to go via Palmerston. The previous evening, we had tried to transfer electronic tickets to one another, but, as had happened in India five weeks earlier, they became stuck in the transit process. This time, however, the entry staff were helpful, and we managed to get in by showing downloaded images on a few phones. A large stand covered half the ground, with a small section of grass banks on the other side. There were several food outlets with the usual burgers, fish and chips, rice and fried chicken options. There was even a van selling falafel as well as burgers. It was nice to see independent traders making a living unlike the rubbish available at the large stadiums in Australia where there are often 10 or more identical food outlets offering absolutely no choice.

The pitch was dropped in some time ago and hence the head groundsman wouldn’t have a clue about how it was likely to play. All you can do is roll it forever, make sure enough water is added and hope for the best. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. The only alteration to the Bangladesh line-up from the side suggested on the Cricket Australia app the previous day involved Tanzid Hasan opening the batting instead of Soumya Sarkar. As the teams walked out on to the outfield, they were serenaded by a lovely cover version of Bowie’s “Heroes”. An aboriginal dance was followed by the National Anthems, and play started nearly four minutes late with Head smashing the second delivery to the cover boundary. It took him to 3,000 Test runs scored just in Australia.

Head was fortunate not to be caught off a leading edge in the fourth over with the ball flying over the bowler’s head and landing between mid-on and mid-off. Ebadot Hossain replaced Taskin Ahmed after 4 overs and managed to get a few deliveries to stay low at 136 km per hour. Hasan Mahmud was getting the ball to travel at around 132 Km per hour whereas Taskin was a little slower at 128 kph most of the time. A review was used on an lbw shout that was close but missing leg stump. Weatherald survived a thick inside edge that flew to the fine leg boundary. There was plenty of action in the first hour and Weatherald was finally out trying to smash a delivery wide of the off stump once too often and was caught behind for 23 ( 45 – 1 ).

Head played on shortly after the drinks break ( 52 – 2 ) and Smith was dropped low at second slip off Ebadot’s bowling when on 2. Labuschagne was then nicely caught low at second slip by Shanto and Ebadot had his wicket ( 61 – 3 ). Smith survived an extraordinary caught behind incident when even he appeared to think he was out. Umpire Dharmasena said not out and the review showed no blip on the radar as if perhaps a sheet of sandpaper or something had accidentally blocked the direct view of the snicko camera. There is no “Hot Spot” available for this Series as no-one was prepared to pay for it. Smith was ready to walk off but he returned to the crease and took his guard once more. Asked at a Press Conference at the close of play if he had hit the ball, he said he thought he had because he felt something. If the technology isn’t working properly, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time in Australia.

Green’s dismissal was the first of several lazy shots by the Australians when he appeared to play the ball with only one hand on the bat straight to Mushfiqur Rahim at short mid-wicket. It was the last ball before Lunch and the score at the interval was 74 – 4. It was an excellent morning for the Bangladesh bowlers whose disciplined approach under cloudy conditions was well rewarded, the achievement of the session marred only by the bowlers sending down a pitiful 22 overs in two hours.

As Smith and Carey rebuilt the Australian innings after lunch, I surveyed the surrounding billboards looking to see which Indian cement Company might be dominant. To my surprise all I could find was Toyota, Woolworths, KFC and others aimed purely at an Australian market. Miraz was brought on to bowl some spin in the 30^th over. The 50 partnership was completed by Smith and Carey from 71 balls. It was an excellent hour for the Australians until Carey was cleaned up to the first delivery after the drink’s interval having made 19 ( 129 – 5). Taijul Islam replaced Miraz after 4 overs and his first ball was a pie that Smith hit over mid-wicket for six. Webster came and went in a flash, scoring 12 off 10 balls before being bowled by an excellent delivery from Taskin (152 – 6 ).

Smith reached his half century from 76 balls and Mahmud replaced Taskin at the Michael Long Learning Centre End. Cummins was caught behind going after a wide delivery and trying to hit it through the covers ( 172 – 7). Starc was caught behind in Mahmud’s next over ( 176 – 8 ) and all these dismissals were down to poor shots. Tea was taken with the score 183 – 8. In the session 109 runs had been added for the loss of 4 wickets from 26 overs. After the interval Smith top edged an attempted tennis smash and was easily caught by Das behind the stumps ( 189 – 9 ) to give Mahmud his 5^th wicket. Lyon attempted a pull shot and was caught at mid-wicket to close the innings for 198. Mahmud had 6 – 55 the third best return from a Bangladesh fast bowler in a Test match.

Shadman and Tanzid opened the batting for Bangladesh. Starc immediately sent the ball down at over 146 Km per hour. Tanzid was badly dropped in the second over by Lyon after a strange edge went high towards extra cover off Hazlewood. After 8 overs the score had reached 36 and the Bangladesh batsmen were cruising.  I lamented not putting Aus $ 20 on Bangladesh to win when they were quoted at 40 – 1 before the start of play and Shadman was immediately caught by Lyon at point off a leading edge to Starc (36 – 1). Green replaced Hazlewood at the Airport End, and his first delivery was smashed to the backward point fence by Tanzid. Lyon soon replaced Green at the Airport End with 40 minutes of play remaining. Mominul confidently worked the ball around hitting a couple of exquisite boundaries when the bowlers over-pitched. Another beautiful drive from Mominul brought up the 50-partnership with Tanzid from 75 balls. By the close of play Bangladesh had reached 95 – 1 from 24 overs only 103 runs behind the Australians.

The Public Address system informed us that the attendance was 5,233 overall. There were some empty seats, but not too many. Unfortunately, there were no buses to take people back to the centre of Darwin which was a shame as the organisation was exceptionally good in every other way. We joined several hundred others in trying to call Uber Taxis once the pick-up point had been located. In the end it didn’t take too long, probably because we didn’t argue when the price was suddenly twice what it was supposed to be. The similarities to getting away from Test grounds in India was not lost on me. In other words, the BCCI and CA really couldn’t give a shit.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

 DANNY BYRNE ….. Intrepid, Easy-going Cricket Crazy Englishman … seated at Galle with an Aussie Nut of the Same Nature …..