Bangladesh Stun Australia in Darwin – Defeats Aussies by 9 wickets
Collected Photo
Bangladesh have pulled off what many are calling the most remarkable upset in Test cricket history, defeating Australia by nine wickets in Darwin to send the hosts' gruelling 20-Test schedule off to a disastrous start.
Cameron Green's long-awaited maiden Test hundred on home soil only served to delay the inevitable, as Bangladesh dominated over three-and-a-half days of attritional cricket on a pristine Marrara Stadium pitch.
The first of two Top End Tests was billed as the ultimate mismatch. On one side stood Australia—finalists in the last two World Test Championship finals and winners of 18 of their previous 23 Tests. On the other were Bangladesh, perennial strugglers away from Asia, having lost 22 of their last 26 Tests outside the subcontinent, including innings defeats to Zimbabwe and a Cricket Australia XI in the past two months alone.
Yet on Sunday, Najmul Hossain Shanto's men—touring Australia for their first long-format matches here since the era of the original iPhone—delivered their nation's greatest moment in 40 years of international cricket.
Pat Cummins chose not to bowl himself as Mominul Haque (30 not out) and Shadman Islam (25 not out) calmly knocked off the 57 runs required for victory in the second session of the fourth day. Mominul's low-key fist pump after cutting Beau Webster for the winning boundary—replacing first-innings centurion Tanzid Hasan, who fell for a duck to Josh Hazlewood—hardly betrayed the magnitude of the achievement.
The victory was built on the heroics of player-of-the-match Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who restricted Australia to just 284 in their third innings—a marginal improvement on their first-innings collapse of 198. Exploiting the footmarks left by Mitchell Starc, Mehidy's precise off-breaks proved unplayable. Four of his five victims were right-handers, including Steve Smith the previous evening, capping a supreme all-round performance that also featured a gritty four-hour innings of 65.
Equally deserving of acclaim was paceman Hasan Mahmud, whose match figures of 9 for 111 stand as the best by a visiting bowler in Australia—excluding Jasprit Bumrah—in the past 15 years.
Green had been urged by Australia's leadership to assert himself in the lead-up to the team's first Test in seven months. He responded in his own measured fashion, grinding down the touring bowlers with just four boundaries in nearly five hours at the crease. His first aggressive stroke—a pulled six off Taskin Ahmed—brought him within one hit of his third Test century. Nathan Lyon risked injury with a full-length dive to secure the double that clinched the milestone for Green, who kissed the Australian badge on his helmet in visible relief.
But his rearguard effort could not carry his side further. Mahmud found the low bounce off the deteriorating drop-in pitch, skidding one into Green's stumps via the toe of his bat. The all-rounder stood frozen, hand on hip, as Mahmud raced past in celebration—delivering what proved the final blow to a dazed Australian outfit.
In terms of improbability, this result surpasses even Shamar Joseph-inspired West Indies' stunning victory at the Gabba two years ago. For Bangladesh, it surely eclipses their 2017 home win over Australia in Dhaka as their most memorable Test triumph.
Resuming in the effective position of four for negative 67 on the final morning, Green—aside from a stuttering miscommunication with Pat Cummins that nearly caused a run-out—held his composure against Bangladesh's spin attack. He passed fifty on home soil for the first time in three-and-a-half years, but watched helplessly as his partners fell around him.
Mahmud diligently maintained the around-the-wicket line that has troubled Alex Carey before, and might have had him caught behind had Litton Das not taken a false step, allowing an edge to escape past his outstretched left glove. But Das redeemed himself when Carey nicked again—this time off Mehidy—and the keeper snaffled the sharp deviation. When the diminutive tweaker struck again with a square-spinner that skidded past the leaden-footed Beau Webster to disturb his off-stump, Mehidy sprinted gleefully towards the Maurice Rioli Stand.
It was the second time in four days that Webster had been clean bowled. Mehidy's 15th career five-wicket haul was sealed when opposite number Nathan Lyon was trapped lbw sweeping. The 28-year-old kissed the turf and walked off with the ball held aloft—a fitting end to a historic triumph.
