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Bangladesh will look to complete a historic series sweep when they take on Australia in the second and final Test at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on Saturday.
The match will begin at 6am Bangladesh time.
Bangladesh secured a nine-wicket victory in the opening Test in Darwin, taking a 1-0 lead in the series and putting Australia under immense pressure.
A victory for Australia in Mackay would level the series, but Bangladesh would still register their best-ever Test series result against Australia. A second consecutive defeat, meanwhile, would hand Australia their first home series whitewash in 139 years. Their last home series sweep came in 1887, when England defeated them.
The pressure on Australia could work in Bangladesh’s favour, but captain Najmul Hossain Shanto sees the second Test primarily as an opportunity for his batting unit to gain confidence against one of the world’s strongest bowling attacks.
Australia’s pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, along with experienced spinner Nathan Lyon, will pose another major challenge for the Bangladesh batters.
Shanto, however, believes performing against such a high-quality attack can boost his team’s confidence.
“Personally, before coming here, I really wanted to face this kind of bowling attack. I have always believed that if we can score runs against this kind of bowling attack, then we can score runs against any bowling attack,” Shanto said at the pre-match press conference on Friday.
Bangladesh produced an impressive batting performance in Darwin, scoring 426 in their first innings and taking a 228-run lead over Australia, which played a crucial role in their emphatic victory.
Shanto acknowledged that repeating that performance in Mackay would be difficult but described the challenge as a valuable opportunity.
“It is an opportunity and a big challenge for us as a batting unit. When you score runs against this kind of team, it gives you a lot of confidence whenever you face similar conditions or a similar bowling attack in the future,” he said.
The Bangladesh captain expects the Mackay pitch to offer more bounce than the Darwin surface but said his team had prepared for the conditions.
“I also think there will be a little more extra bounce here than in Darwin. Before coming here, we prepared for this kind of bouncy track. We also had a series against Zimbabwe before coming here, where the wickets were almost similar,” he said.
Bangladesh’s batters have also worked on dealing with the additional bounce during recent net sessions.
“I hope the batters have worked on their skills during the last few days of net sessions. I think they will be able to handle the extra bounce,” Shanto said.
Bangladesh have now won two of their seven Tests against Australia. Their first victory came by 20 runs in Mirpur in 2017, while the second was the nine-wicket triumph in Darwin. They lost the other five matches, including both Tests during their previous tour of Australia in 2003, with three of those defeats coming by an innings.
Bangladesh could make a change to their winning combination, with left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam in contention for a place in the playing XI.
Australia have called up Matt Renshaw in place of Jake Weatherald as they attempt to avoid a series sweep on home soil.
Squads
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Tanzid Hasan, Mominul Haque Showrab, Mushfiqur Rahim, Amite Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz (vice-captain), Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Syed Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Liton Das, Shoriful Islam.
Australia: Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Matt Renshaw.
