The worry had been about Australia’s pacers. But the hosts dominated with spin. Off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli alone took 6 wickets to bowl Bangladesh out. As Bangladesh struggled in a batting collapse, seven wickets down on the first day, Mehedi Hasan Miraz shone with the bat, striking a superb century. Riding on 11 sixes and 4 fours off 141 balls, he made an unbeaten 109, giving the visitors a respectable score. On the back of Miraz’s century, Bangladesh made 263 all out in the first innings.
At the start of the Australia tour, the Cricket Australia XI bowled superbly in the sole three-day warm-up match. Under that attack, the Red-and-Greens slipped into a batting collapse. By tea on the first day, the tourists were under pressure at 175 for 7.
Earlier, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and chose to bat first at Darwin’s Marrara Oval. But Bangladesh stumbled early. With just 7 on the board, Hanno Jacobs sent back opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim, who departed for a duck. Sadman Islam and Mominul Haque then tried to steady things, but the scoring rate was fairly slow.
Captain Shanto made the innings’ top score of 37 off 53 balls with 7 boundaries before falling. Sadman made 31 off 47 balls. Experienced batsman Mominul Haque (16) and Amit Hasan (15), who is waiting to make his Test debut, settled at the crease but failed to make big scores. Showing extreme middle-order failure, Mushfiqur Rahim fell for a duck. Bangladesh lost four wickets before lunch. As usual, the top six batsmen failed in the first innings on the opening day of the warm-up match.
For Australia, Corey Rocchiccioli took 6 wickets for 83 in 24 overs. Hanno Jacobs, Xavier Crone, Campbell Thompson and Jarsis Wadia took one each.
Brief score
Bangladesh first innings: 263/10, 75.5 overs (Miraz 109*, Shanto 37, Sadman 31, Mominul 16, Soumya 16; Rocchiccioli 6/83, Jacobs 1/28, Campbell 1/26, Crone 1/48, Wadia 1/26).
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report