Australia v. Bangladesh - Test Series

[gobbles21]

Day of reckoning at hand for Bangladesh
Lynn McConnell - July 17, 2003


Much as Bangladesh would prefer it otherwise, the attention of the cricket world is going to be focussed on their performance against Australia for all the wrong reasons, when the first Test begins at Darwin tomorrow.

Questions like "How quickly can Australia win?" and "What records will they break?" are generating the only interest in this out-of-season fixture in Australia's far north. The world's newest Test venue - cricket's 87th, and only the 11th to acquire first-class status with a Test - is going to be the scene for the most searching study yet of Bangladesh's membership into the game's elite club.

It would hence be of little comfort that the pitch for the game will be different in nature to the one on which Bangladesh beat the region's Chief Minister's XI last weekend. That was a low and slow pitch of sandy nature, but the portable pitch that has been dropped into the middle of the Marrara Oval has a concrete base and is made of local clay.

The only possible impediment - and a remote one at that - to a dominating Australian performance will be the fact that the home players have not had the benefit of recent play in their preparation for the match. But it was only six weeks ago that they were in the West Indies, so technique and confidence should not have evaporated in that time, especially in an outfit as competitive as Australia have consistently shown themselves to be.

The match is just reward for the long-serving administrators of the Northern Territory, who would never have dreamed that they would be hosting a Test match, let alone the agreed four in the next five years. NT chief executive Jim Ford said that Bangladesh's participation in Darwin's first Test had not precluded keen interest in the game. The locals will get a chance to be part of history by attending the match and seeing their own team in the flesh.

Ford confidently expects that the audience numbers on Friday or Saturday will give the ground capacity of 13,000 a nudge. "Our administrators started out wanting to foster this part of the world as a winter haven for cricket. We have hosted pre-season camps and have had New Zealand's team and the Academy side here, and that has helped promote awareness of us and what we have to offer. The ground is looking an absolute treat and there will be quite a carnival atmosphere," he said.

It's the last week of school holidays, and local schoolchildren and cricket fans have been making good use of the Australian team being in town at a variety of functions that have been taking place.

Having already admitted that they might struggle to focus to perform against Bangladesh, it is not hard to imagine the effort that has been going into preparation by coach John Buchanan and captain Steve Waugh. For those players who need a focus, there are some individual milestones worth keeping in mind.

Adam Gilchrist is sitting on 2897 runs, at 59.12, and 183 dismissals. Matthew Hayden is set to crack the 3500 mark on 3475. Ricky Ponting, on 4787, has a chance to go past 5000 in the series, while Waugh's accumulation of runs beyond his 10,265 will give him a shot at getting his average back over 50 and his total nearer Allan Border's world record mark of 11,174. If he reaches three figures, Waugh will also have scored a century against every Test-playing nation.

Apart from the vast reserves of experience the Australians can call on, the Bangladesh's biggest problem will be that which has dogged their tenure in international cricket - a lack of application. With a background of poor exposure to first-class cricket, the tourists struggle to withstand the pressures of international play for long periods. It would surprise no-one if they struggle even more in Australia, playing as they will be under the shadow of being the weaker team in what is being called the biggest mismatch in Test cricket history.

Teams:

Australia (from): 1 Steve Waugh (capt), 2 Ricky Ponting, 3 Andy Bichel, 4 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 5 Jason Gillespie, 6 Matthew Hayden, 7 Brad Hogg, 8 Justin Langer, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Darren Lehmann, 11 Martin Love, 12 Stuart MacGill, 13 Glenn McGrath

Bangladesh (from): Khaled Mahmud (capt), Javed Omar, Khaled Mashud, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Rafique, Hannan Sarker, Mohammad Ashraful, Al-Sahariar, Manjural Islam, Alok Kapali, Sanwar Hossain, Tareq Aziz, Tapash Baisya, Anwar Hossain Monir, Mashrafe Mortaza

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen, David Shepherd, Simon Taufel (3rd), Steve Davis (4th)

Match referee: Mike Procter

[Donny]

Thanks, Gobbles.

I heard Bic is 12th. man and Love is in the XI so which spinner is playing ? MacGill, presumably.

[Donny]

Australia opt for four specialist bowlers in final XI
Wisden CricInfo staff - July 17, 2003


Australia have decided to strengthen their batting for their first Test against Bangladesh, and have reverted to a four-bowler strategy. Or perhaps they've decided that they don't need five specialist bowlers. Brad Hogg and Andy Bichel were both omitted from the side, as Martin Love and Darren Lehmann both got a look in.

The bowling attack remains formidable: Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee will be supported by Stuart MacGill, who will be hoping, given Bangladesh's recent record, that he gets a chance to bowl.

With Damien Martyn still unfit, Lehmann and Love have both got a chance to pile up some easy international runs. Adam Gilchrist is slated at bat at No. 7.

Australian XI 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Justin Langer, 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Darren Lehmann, 5 Steve Waugh (capt), 6 Martin Love, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Jason Gillespie, 10 Stuart MacGill, 11 Glenn McGrath.

[Donny]

Bangladesh find little comfort in statistics
S Rajesh - July 17, 2003


That Bangladesh will be drubbed 0-2 by Australia is an almost foregone conclusion – barring serious intervention from the weather gods, any other result seems improbable. Bangladesh will need more modest yardsticks to measure their progress. Extending the Tests to the fourth day would be a start. In their 19 previous matches, they have only managed that 11 times, and the weather had a huge hand to play on a couple of those occasions. Among the teams who have inflicted three-day defeats on Bangladesh are Pakistan (three times), Sri Lanka (twice), West Indies (twice) and South Africa (once). Significantly, Bangladesh haven't yet lost a Test inside two days.

David Hookes's suggestion of a one-day Test is far-fetched, but Australia will surely fancy their chances of bowling Bangladesh out twice in a day. Already, Bangladesh's two innings have lasted less than a combined total of 90 overs on two occasions. Against Pakistan at Multan in 2001, Bangladesh were bowled out in 41.1 overs in each innings, while West Indies bowled them out twice in 86 overs in Dhaka in 2002-03. On an average, Bangladesh have survived 132 overs per Test – that's almost four-and-a-half sessions – while a Test featuring Bangladesh has lasted 263 overs, nearly three complete days.

Worryingly for Bangladesh, though, their form has slumped considerably of late. In their last 11 Tests, Bangladesh average just 160 in their first innings and 173 in their second, compared to their overall averages of 182 (first innings) and 184 (second innings).

Bangladesh have also notched up the dubious distinction of the maximum number of consecutive Test defeats. It currently stands at 13, and is likely to go up by two by the end of this series. It's easily the longest losing streak; Zimbabwe are next in line with nine. New Zealand may have needed 45 matches to record their first win, but their worst run only consisted of six consecutive losses. After 19 Tests, they had lost just six, while India had 11 defeats and eight draws at the same stage of their Test career.

Most consecutive losses in Test history
Bangladesh – 13 (Nov 2001 to May 2003) Zimbabwe (1), New Zealand (2), Pakistan (2), Sri Lanka (2), South Africa (4) and West Indies (2)
Zimbabwe – 9 (Nov 2001 to June 2003) lost to England (2), Pakistan (2), India (2) and Sri Lanka (3)
England – 8 (Nov 1920 to July 1921) lost to Australia
South Africa – 8 (March 1889 to April 1899) - lost to England
Australia – 7 (March 1885 to February 1888) - lost to England
India – 7 (July 1967 to January 1968) - lost to England (3) and Australia (4)
West Indies – 7 (November 2000 to January 2001) - lost to England (2) and Australia (5)
New Zealand – 6 (January 1954 to November 1955) - lost to South Africa (2), England (2) and Pakistan (2)
Pakistan – 5 (November 1999 to March 2000) - lost to Australia (3) and Sri Lanka (2)
Sri Lanka – 5 (January 1994 to August 1994) - lost to India (3) and Pakistan (2)


Another dubious distinction for Bangladesh: Only seven times has a team won all Tests in a series by an innings, and Bangladesh have been at the receiving end four times. Five out of those seven occurences have happened since 2000, the latest one being Zimbabwe's capitulation in the two-Test series in England.

The seven instances of a team winning every Test of a series by an innings:

Series Winner Margin
1 England v West Indies (1928) England Innings and 58, 30 and 71 runs

2 India v Sri Lanka (1993-94) India Innings and 119, 95 and 17 runs

3 New Zealand v Bangladesh (2001-02) New Zealand Innings and 52 and 74 runs

4 Bangladesh v Pakistan (2001-02) Pakistan Innings and 178 and 169 runs

5 South Africa v Bangladesh (2002-03) South Africa Innings and 107 and 160 runs

6 Bangladesh v South Africa (2002-03) South Africa Innings and 60 and 18 runs

7 England v Zimbabwe (2003) England Innings and 92 and 69 runs

Through all the stats about Bangladesh's dismal display, here's a crumb of comfort: Bangladesh, relatively speaking, haven't succumbed to the pressures of playing overseas. Their second-innings average abroad is 188 – marginally better than the corresponding figure of 180 at home - while their first-innings average is only slightly worse (178 compared to 186).

[Donny]

Australia won the toss and, not surprisingly, sent Bangladesh in to bat.

First over from McGrath was a maiden.

[Donny]

Sarkar becomes the first Bangladeshi wicket to fall in Australia. He went, lbw, to McGrath for a duck in the 5th. over. 1/4

[HAL]

Where exactly is that?

[gobbles21]

6 out at lunch, not the start Bangladesh was looking for, but better than some of the Australian public were predicting.

[Donny]

All out 97.

McGrath - 3/20
Gillespie - 2/27
Lee - 3/23
MacGill - 2/21

[HAL]

That is a rather sweeping generalization.

[Donny]

Australia is 2/44 after 19 overs.

Ponting just went for 10, a good catch in the covers.

[Donny]

At stumps, Australia are on 2/121. Lehmann is 51 n.o. and langer, 40 n.o.

[Donny]

Bangladesh no match for Australian fire
The Wisden Bulletin by Lynn McConnell - July 18, 2003

The Australian crawl used to be the style that powered their swimmers to the top of the world rankings, but it was never a term meant to describe their batting against the minnows of world cricket. But that was what happened today in Darwin, when Australia cold-footed it to 121 for 2 by stumps - a lead of 24 - after Bangladesh had become the first Test side to score less than 100 at Test cricket's newest outpost.

For all but the last dozen or so overs, the Australian run rate sputtered along at around 2.5 an over, before climbing to 2.69. Coming from a side that has made scoring at a fast clip one of the cornerstones of their success - since the Ashes series of 2001, they have scored at 3.96 per over - it was bizarre to watch.

However, despite the loss of Matthew Hayden (11) and Ricky Ponting (10), Australia were in a formidable position with Justin Langer and Darren Lehmann at the crease, and the threat of Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Martin Love to follow. Bangladesh will be thankful that the Marrara Oval has such a painfully slow outfield. While it denied them more runs, it frustrated the Australians as much, if not more.

The Australians walked out to field wearing black armbands, in memory of Victoria stalwart John Scholes, who died earlier this week aged only 53. The Bangladeshis, as expected, struggled to cope with the experienced bowling attack when asked to bat first on a pitch of variable bounce. Poor technique was ruthlessly exposed, with several dismissals attributable to failing to get in line, leaving gaps between bat and pad or playing down the wrong line. Glenn McGrath added three scalps to lift his career haul to 428, while Brett Lee, despite an inconsistent spell, took 3 for 23.

Mohammad Ashraful briefly suggested that he could provide the necessary solidity to the Bangladesh innings, but then, in the vital moments before lunch, he miscued a hook off the last ball of the first over of Glenn McGrath's second spell, chipping it up for Jason Gillespie to take the catch behind square leg.

The seventh-wicket pairing of the two Khaleds, Mashud and Mahmud, achieved the highest partnership of the innings, adding 27. Mahmud relished successive fours off McGrath - a pull and a hook - but the bowler had the last word, breaking the stand by having Mashud leg before wicket.

Mahmud followed soon after for 21, when an attempted cut off Stuart MacGill was top-edged to Adam Gilchrist. Gillespie and Brett Lee polished off the lower order. The Australian bowling bore the hallmarks of an out-of-season campaign but it was still too much for Test cricket's newest boys.

Lehmann's half-century was his fifth in Tests, coming off 93 balls, while Langer - who edged one from Kapali between Mashud and Habibul Bashar, at first slip, when he had made 35 - was unbeaten on 40 at the close.

It proved a slow first day, and the tourists - after an embarrassing batting display - could feel well pleased about having forced the Australian batsmen to treat them with respect. How long that respect lasts will be the story of the second day.

[The Prototype]

I guess ABC won't need to worry about their 3rd day Coverage then.

[NickiSlater]

All I can say is it's great to have the cricket back on television!