Australia are staring down the barrel of an unprecedented defeat to Bangladesh, trailing by a whopping 228 runs after the tourists’ staggering first innings in Darwin.
The deficit represents uncharted territory for Australian cricket. Only three teams in the nation’s Test history have ever won from more than 200 runs behind after a first innings (the most recent was in 2010 when Australia trailed Pakistan by 206 runs in Sydney).
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Bangladesh’s innings ended not long after lunch, with Josh Hazlewood cleaning up the tail to finish with the figures of 6-89, which included his 300th Test wicket.
But, outside of Hazlewood, there was little to celebrate and plenty to digest.
Right before lunch, Mehidy Hasan smacked Cameron Green for a huge six over fine leg on the final ball before the break to add salt into a raw wound.
And Channel 7 commentator Trent Copeland admitted the situation was “grim”.
“How bad is this for the Australians?” Copeland was asked.
“Yeah, we’re just talking to (stats guru) Swamp before about how significant this deficit is … this is rarefied air … it’s pretty grim,” Copeland said on Seven.
The Australian team’s struggles have been evident throughout the match, with signs of physical and mental fatigue creeping into the side at the start of the season.
Veteran stars Steve Smith and Travis Head both dropped catches as the Bangladesh tail wagged with glee.
“Historically, in the last few years, (Australia) have bowled teams out in a couple of sessions,” Simon Katich said on Seven.
“So there’s some heavy legs. It’s the start of the season. So there’s been a lot of rust in this Test so far. And just little things like Steve Smith dropping that catch, he doesn’t drop catches like that normally.
“So you just wonder whether there’s a little bit of physical and mental fatigue creeping into this batting group.”
The Australians have looked a shadow of themselves from the very start of the match.
While there are some positives, with bowlers Pat Cummins, Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon getting through significant workloads after injury layoffs, the performance standpoint remains dire.
“There’s probably different elements of the physical performance staff that would be pleased that they’ve got this workload in them. But from a performance standpoint, that doesn’t matter. They’re so far behind in the game,” Copeland said.
“So I think Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon to date, getting through with that workload is a minimum standard. They needed to get it in the legs, so they’ll benefit from that.
“But man, it’s really concerning that this is the way it goes.
“And cricket just has that funny way (to get at you) when things aren’t going your way.
“Those dropped catches and even the way the session finished, a six while you walk off as a batter, you do carry that through the lunch break and into the next session.
“So Australia just have so many things going against them right now.”
Bangladesh’s first innings lead was set up by a maiden ton for Tanzid Hasan (101) and an aggressive 84 by captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.
Australia allrounder Beau Webster said the path to victory was not insurmountable.
“We have got some naturally aggressive batters all ready to move the scoreboard along. Hopefully the wicket stays true and nice and we can put some pressure back on their bowlers,” Webster said.
“A day and half of really good batting at a half-decent clip gets us right back in this contest.
“Batting last in a Test match on a hopefully worn wicket could be tricky (for Bangladesh) if it is a small chase.
“I think that is our obvious way to win the game.”
The Australians have never lost a Test match to Bangladesh in Australia, but did lose one Test to them in 2017.
– With AAP
