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“Reconsider your need to travel.” This is how the Department of Foreign Affairs classifies Bangladesh, but it could just as accurately describe Australian attitudes to playing cricket against the country. In 17 years since earning Test status, the South Asian nation have contested an even 100 matches, but only four against Australia – fewer than any other by far.
Earlier this year, Cricket Australia pushed for this visit to be reduced to a white-ball affair. Their logic: they are in the neighbourhood again next year for a series against Pakistan, so these Tests could be delayed for that slot. Later, during the pay crisis it emerged that players were relaxed if this tour became collateral damage in the event a deal wasn’t inked in time.
Then there is the security situation, an inescapable focus after the 2015 visit was cancelled within days of departure on the back of Dfat and Asio advice. In turn, when England arrived last year a 2,000-man “ring of steel” was erected to insulate the touring party from outside volatility. Dfat’s tourist advice goes on to note a “high threat” of terrorist activity in Bangladesh, so that ring is back in place for Australia’s every move, including snipers positioned to protect the convoy’s driving route.
With all of these factors in mind, the very fact that the series is going ahead – the first of its kind for 11 years – is not for nothing, even if it is still very much monsoon season, devastatingly so when reading of the human tragedies experienced due to wild flooding. As far the cricket is concerned, Australia’s only warm-up game was lost in the wet and the forecast remains sketchy at best for the Dhaka fixture. But at least they’re here. It’s a start.
Casting back to that 2006 series, it is reflexive to cite Jason Gillespie’s unbeaten double century, often it coming with the “it was only against Bangladesh” slur. Less well remembered: the tourists had to overcome a 158-run first innings deficit in the opening rubber, only just chasing down 307 due to a man called Ponting.
On recent trends, perhaps the Australians were fortunate not to play here in 2015 given the spate of their subcontinental misadventures. The improvement of Steve Smith’s side in India this year was considerable and commendable, but it remains the case that they have lost 11 of their last 13 Tests in the region, and haven’t won a series in Asia since 2011.
They have arrived at a moment when Bangladeshi confidence has never been higher. Winning in Dhaka to square their series with England last October was a historic achievement – the first time they had triumphed against an opposition that wasn’t Zimbabwe or the West Indies. A 1-1 result was also claimed by Mushfiqur Rahim’s men in Sri Lanka this March. Make what you will of the form line here given Australia’s 3-0 thrashing in that country a little over a year ago.
Opener Tamim Iqbal and talisman Shakib Al Hasan both win their 50th Test caps at Dhaka. The former is a noted big-game performer, compiling a vital ton in the England win. His world-class credentials were confirmed during a Champions Trophy campaign that saw Bangladesh burst into the final four, smashing a ton against England and a further 95 against Australia in a game lost to rain.
The latter is the host’s glue, the world’s top-ranked all-rounder at the peak of his powers with a batting average north of 40 alongside 177 wickets. A double-ton in New Zealand began his year, followed by three-figures in the Sri Lanka victory. This week in these pages, he said they feel “unbeatable” at home, detailing the change in psyche where they feel confident of taking the big dogs down.
With the ball, a trio of prodigies join Shakib in the hunt for 20 wickets. At just 19 years of age, the main man is off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, the architect of the watershed England win with 12 scalps. Two years his senior is left-arm excitement machine Mustafizur Rahman who burst onto the international scene before playing under David Warner’s tutelage at Sunrisers Hyderabad. Then there’s Taskin Ahmed, a year older at 22, but a tall brute of a bowler who is already one of the quickest on the planet. Inexperienced, yes. And also yet to be damaged by Australia.
They face a batting list that looks strangely settled for a hit-out in this part of the world. For all of Warner’s vulnerably in Asia – his average here dropping to 30, punctuated by a dismal tour of India tallying fewer than 200 runs in four Tests – he has never lost his confidence. A method to excel here surely can’t be far from following.
The vice-captain’s opening partner, Matt Renshaw, looked assured in each of the India Tests with the exception of the decider, while Peter Handscomb proved at Ranchi he has both the grit and game to handle spin at its most challenging. Then there is Steve Smith. The three hundreds and 499 runs he compiled in India constitute one of the great individual performances.
The captain will be able to shuffle down to his preferred No4 position with Usman Khawaja set to win back his spot from the omitted Shaun Marsh. Overlooked in India, the No3 was stung by the inferred suggestion that he has a bit of the flat-track-bully about him, so there’ll be no better place to prove that wrong with raging turners a certainty.
At six, Glenn Maxwell has the chance to consolidate the significant gains he made by in India, recommitting himself to the determined defence-first philosophy that served him so well in that breakthrough.
Incumbent gloveman Matthew Wade has only one half-century to his name in eight Tests since his recall. That undersells the value he added in India, but he is savvy enough to know that to lock up an Ashes spot he needs some more tangible evidence. Namely, runs.
The warm-and-fuzzy inclusion is Ashton Agar, back for his first Test since the memorable pair he played as a 19-year-old four years ago. Through a combination of forward planning and off-field indiscretions, Steve O’Keefe’s time as an international looks over; Agar is the beneficiary. He remains the same calm and articulate man the nation fell for way back when, but now with so much more bowling (and batting) experience to draw from.
He’ll partner with senior tweaker Nathan Lyon, fresh from a Border-Gavaskar series where he bowled the best he ever has in Asia. With 247 Test wickets the off-spinner is now a single victim away from joining Richie Benaud as Australia’s second most prolific spin bowler. That’s an early special moment to look out for in Dhaka.
Rounding out the side, with Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson both triggering old injuries in England over the winter, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins lead the seam division as they did competently and manfully in the second half of the Indian marathon.
Make no mistake, Bangladesh have graduated to the ranks of serious competitors in world cricket. And not before time. So sure, this series is far from broadway at this time of the footy season, but the preconditions are there for it being worthy of close attention.
(THE GUARDIAN)
