Australia v Bangladesh: first men’s Test, day one - live

Key events

Speaking of the English, Joe Root has done the sensible thing. Over to his players to do the same…

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“Hi James”

Hello Rowan McSweeney!

“How good is Cricket in August?!”

Well that’s a loaded question for us in Blighty with only The Hundred being played in these prime weeks of summer… NOT NOW JIM! LEAVE IT!

“Weatherald getting out after another start. He seems to make heavy weather of his starts, then almost relaxes too much when he gets his eye at least somewhat in. Don’t be too nervous but also don’t be too relaxed! Who’d be a batter, eh?”

He seemed a bit lost this morning, he’s tinkered with his technique to combat getting pinned lbw but then played and missed a handful of times before nicking off to the keeper.

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Lunch: Australia 74-4

Pat Cummins is in the nets at lunch, with the bat in hand. I’m sure he didn’t have that in mind when he won the toss and chose to have a bat this morning in Darwin. Weatherald, Head, Labuschagne and Green have all been sent packing.

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WICKET! Cameron Green c Mushfiqur Rahim b Taskin (Australia 74-4)

Gone! Cam Green that is not good batting, on the cusp of lunch he hooks without any control for SIX and then clips loosely off his pads in the air where Mushfiqur takes a simple catch at midwicket.

That is soft soft soft from Green. Softer than the Michelin Man’s tummy after a twelve course tasting menu. Australia head to lunch teetering on 74-4. Bangladesh are understandably cock-a-hoop and they dropped Steve Smith in that session too, they could have Australia five down!

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Updated at 23.01 EDT

21st over: Australia 68-3 (Smith 7, Green 7) Now then! Ebadot Hossein is convinced he has Steve Smith caught behind but umpire Dharmasena is unmoved. Bangladesh send it upstairs and are celebrating with high fives and backslaps, Smith is also looking mighty guilty and wandering twenty yards over to the Aussie dugout… but there’s no spike on snicko and back comes Smith. NOT OUT. Bangladesh can’t believe it, they were certain they heard an edge. Smith survives!

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Updated at 22.29 EDT

20th over: Australia 67-3 (Smith 7, Green 6) Green collects three more down the ground with a punch to a full ball from Taskin. Steve Smith is batting like a man with a bee in his britches, he’s walking down to the bowler and displaying some elaborate leaves.

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19th over: Australia 64-3 (Smith 7, Green 3) Oh my days, Cam Green gets an under edge to his first ball with a nervy prod to Ebadot Hossein! That could have easily deflected onto the stumps a la Head. The big fella defends the next two and then gets off the mark with a drive down the ground for three. Do not adjust your set.

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WICKET! Marnus Labuschagne c Najmul Hossain Shanto b Ebadot Hossain 1 (Australia 61-3)

Australia are three down before lunch! Marnus edges and is well caught by the Bangladesh skipper in the cordon. Here comes Cameron Green for a very tricky 20 minute period before lunch…

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Updated at 22.17 EDT

18th over: Australia 62-2 (Labuschagne 1, Smith 7) Smith is on the move, taking a step down to Taskin to negate any late movement. Eeeesht! Another edge from Smith and it flies through a now vacant third slip region for four.

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17th over: Australia 56-2 (Labuschagne 1, Smith 3) DROP! Steve Smith edges Hossein to Tamim at third slip and the catch goes in and pops out. That’s a huge moment, it was a low one but comfortably carried and a BIG chance goes begging.

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16th over: Australia 55-2 (Labuschagne 1, Smith 2) Taskin returns for his second spell. Smith is off the mark with a sketchy leading edge to cover and Marnus gets off a blob with a tentative poke that results in an inside edge into the leg side. Bangladesh have their collective dander up here.

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15th over: Australia 52-2 (Labuschagne 0, Smith 0) Hossein keeps Marnus honest with a maiden. Ricky Ponting, astute as ever, has spotted that Labuschagne is batting with his back foot on off stump thus limiting his options to play through the off side in an attempt to negate the chances of an lbw. Batting is full of Butterfly Effects.

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14th over: Australia 52-2 (Labuschagne 0, Smith 0) Steve Smith joins Marnus in the middle and the Aussies are under a bit of pressure early doors in Darwin.

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WICKET! Travis Head b Hasan Mahmud 22 (Australia 52-2)

The clouds have rolled over Darwin and Bangladesh have some decent conditions here with a new ball. Gah. Mahmud serves up a half volley that Head pongoes through cover for four.

Chopped on! Head has to go after fencing a back of a length ball that moves back, takes the inside edge and clatters onto leg stump. Head is disgusted with himself for playing a half arsed shot and has to depart. Both Aussie openers back in the hutch.

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Updated at 21.48 EDT

13th over: Australia 46-1 (Head 16, Labuschagne 0) Ebadot Hossein continues and gets some impressive bounce out of the Darwin surface, Litton Das taking the ball above his head behind the sticks. Head gets a single and Marnus is happy to dot out the rest of the over as he gets himself acquainted.

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Updated at 21.46 EDT

12th over: Australia 45-1 (Head 15, Labuschagne 0) Here’s Marnus with a fair bit of heat on him despite averaging nigh on 45 in Test cricket, he hasn’t reached the dizzy heights of his first couple of years in Tests and there’s a feeling he needs to properly arrest a slump. He leaves his first two balls from Mahmud but there’s none of the ‘No Run’ histrionics of peak Labuschagne. Wicket maiden from Hasan Mahmud who has impressed in the first hour.

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Updated at 21.46 EDT

WICKET! Jake Weatherald c Litton Das b Hasan Mahmud 23 (Australia 45-1)

Gone! It was coming, Weatherald bottom edged with a wild swish outside off earlier in the over that landed just short of keeper Das and then attempts the same a coupe of balls later and gets a meaty edge behind. Unconvincing from the local lad and he shakes his head as he departs.

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Updated at 21.50 EDT

11th over: Australia 45-0 (Head 15, Weatherald 23) Weatherald is riding his luck, an inside edge squirts back past his stumps and Hossein has is head in his hands. A single brings Head on strike and he pulls dismissively for four, his first boundary since the second ball of the game.

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10th over: Australia 35-0 (Head 10, Weatherald 18) Weatherald wafts and misses outside off stump for the fourth or fifth time already this morning. Crack! He doesn’t miss the next though and there’s a pistol crack noise around the ground as he smashes a four through cover point.

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Updated at 21.30 EDT

9th over: Australia 31-0 (Head 10, Weatherald 10) Hossein cuts Head in half with consecutive deliveries pitched back of a length. He’s bustling in and looks well up for the fight. Close! Head is pinned on the knee roll and Bangladesh like the look of this… they send it upstairs… NOT OUT – missing off stump and the visitors lose a review. Brilliant and threatening first over from Ebadot Hossein though, a maiden.

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8th over: Australia 31-0 (Head 10, Weatherald 10) Weatherald is beaten by Mahmud but settles his nerves the next ball with a compact off drive for four. Edabdot Hossein is being summoned for an early bowl, he got some tap in the warm up game…

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7th over: Australia 23-0 (Head 9, Weatherald 7) Taskin is around the wicket and zoning in on the stumps and pads. He’s flicked away a couple of times in the over and decides to plug that gap with a leg slip. Don’t mind that at all.

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6th over: Australia 19-0 (Head 8, Weatherald 4) Bangladesh have started well with the ball, another probing over from Mahmud, Weatherald leaves a ball that will have got his ticker fluttering as it passed over the stumps by this much. A full ball to finish hits the batter on the boot but it was heading down leg and the appeal is stifled.

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5th over: Australia 18-0 (Head 7, Weatherald 4) Taskin with more late movement, jagging a ball back into Weatherald’s knee roll, a keen appeal but it was going over and Umpire Dharmasena is rightly unmoved. The bowler goes full, trying to get through Weatherald in a similar way to how England had some success against him in the Ashes - with him falling over to the off side - but the radar is awry and it slides away for four byes.

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4th over: Australia 13-0 (Head 7, Weatherald 4) Hasan Mahmud nearly pockets Head as a meaty leading edge loops over the bowler but short of mid off. The bowler then beats Weatherald all ends up with a ripper that seams back and looks like it skimmed the off bail. Weahterald aims a booming drive at the final ball but connects only with hot and humid Darwin air.

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3rd over: Australia 12-0 (Head 6, Weatherald 4) Tidy over from Taskin who lands it on a postage stamp for five in a row before blotting his copy book ever so slightly with a drift onto the pads that Head whips to leg for a single.

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2nd over: Australia 11-0 (Head 5, Weatherald 4) Hasan Mahmud shares the new nut, he took four wickets in the warm up match against the CA XI and he looks dangerous here early on. Weatherald gets off the mark with a thick edge for four wide of the cordon and is then beaten by an absolute doozy that shapes in and nips away late. Play that! Ricky Ponting thinks Weatherald is standing taller in his crease but there are still plenty of moving parts, including a backlift that bobs back and forth like a souped up maneki-neko. Will the technical adjustments bring him luck and prosperity?

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1st over: Australia 4-0 (Head 4, Weatherald 0) Taskin Ahmed starts with the ball for Bangladesh with Travis Head on strike. The first ball is on the moolah and respected by Head with a forward defence. Ah, that didn’t last long. Taskin pushes the next one a bit too full and a bit too wide and it is duly lashed through the covers for four by the great moustachioed one. Taskin is back on task for the rest of the over though, finding a good spot on off stump with a bit of nip back into the left handed Head off the pitch. Bangladesh need a couple of early scalps to get into this match.

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The players line up and the anthems are duly dusted off. Righto, lets do this.

As a side note, David Warner has arrived in Darwin dressed as a pocket sized Mick Dundee. “Call that a pull shot? This is a pull shot”

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Updated at 20.51 EDT

Teams:

Australia: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Beau Webster, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud

An early look at Australia’s batting card this morning then, local boy Jake Weatherald will be feeling the nerves as he attempts to cement his place at the top of the order. Marnus will also be looking to get some runs under his belt to quieten a few grumblings and rumblings about his output in Test cricket of late.

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Updated at 20.46 EDT

The mercury is set to touch 31 degrees in Darwin today with a clammy 80 per cent humidity. The pitch looks true albeit there might be a touch of moisture and movement for Bangladesh’s bowlers to exploit early on. Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto says as much at the toss and says he is “honoured and excited” to be leading his side in a Test series in Australia.

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Australia win the toss and choose to bat first

The coin falls Australia’s way and they will bat first. Pat Cummins says he and his men are “buzzing”* to get going after a seven month break.

*

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Preamble

James Wallace

Test cricket in Australia in August? Yes please.

And so it begins. Over the next 12 months the Australian men’s Test team will play 20 Test matches (21 if they make the World Test Championship final) in a year that will likely define an era.

Much has been made about the wizened age of the current Aussie outfit -with only Cameron Green under the age of 30 in the likely starting XI against Bangladesh in Darwin today. This is not a team that is preparing for the future, but it is one that could win a hell of a lot of Test cricket in the next 12 months and yah-boo to whatever follows. Pat Cummins intimated he is all about the here and now in his pre-match comments:

double quotation markWe don’t look too far ahead. We as a group are quite good at just being quite present, not thinking too far ahead and moving on from one game to the next. For us at the moment, it’s all Bangladesh this series.”

The ‘Fab Four’ are reunited too – the ever present and ever impressive (just ask England’s batting card…) Mitchell Starc is rejoined by Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, the first time the quartet will line up together in over a year. No questions about the golden quality of the bowling then but a few question marks over the Aussie batting order with plenty of scrutiny on the aforementioned Green and Jake Weatherald at the top of the order.

Bangladesh haven’t been Down Under for a Test series since 2003 and Darwin hasn’t hosted a Test match since 2004. Play begins at 10am local time and 10:30am AEST, the teams and the toss are imminent. As ever, please do get in touch as we go along. Shall we?

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