Last Updated on 54 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Spare a thought for Mitchell Starc. He led Australia’s response in Mackay in the most emphatic way possible, taking just 22 deliveries to notch up a 19th Test five-wicket haul. Bangladesh lost their first five wickets for 12 runs, with a last wicket partnership of 25 making up 39% of the visitors’ paltry 64 all-out.
Later in the day, Starc was batting courtesy of a combination of excellent bowling by the returning Shoriful Islam and more shoddy batting from the Australians.
The hosts finished on 165/8 with a lead of 101 as Mackay joined the list of chaotic days of Test cricket down under. If the Mackay surface settles down on day two and Bangladesh have a better time of things second time around, the out-of-form Aussie lineup could face a tricky chase in the final innings.
There is a while yet for that scenario to play out. And who knows whether there will be enough play to see whether the Mackay surface flattens out the way it did during the Australia A vs. India A match in 2024.
But Australia’s batting problems are glaring. Yes the Mackay surface has provided assistance for the fast bowlers, but it’s not at the level of the 2022 Gabba or 2025 MCG monsters. The batting at times was woeful as Australia made mistake after mistake with the game in their hands.
Australia’s batting leaves plenty to be desired as Bangladesh stay alive in 2nd Test despite getting bowled out for 64
Keeping things simple seems to be this Australian batting lineup’s kryptonite. Numerous players get themselves into trouble by attempting to access areas of the outfield that is not to the merit of the delivery.
Intent was the order of the day for Matt Renshaw. But getting so far across his stumps and attempting to whip deliveries from outside off to the legside is asking for trouble. Taskin Ahmed got a delivery to straighten slightly from around the wicket, and the left-hander only managed to edge to Tanzid at second slip.
It was a delivery asking to be hit in the ‘V’. The South Africa and New Zealand fast bowlers will feast on such an approach.
Travis Head has chopped on for the third in a row attempting to force deliveries too close to him square on the offside. Despite his excellent Ashes series, question marks remain as to whether he can deliver as an opener in South Africa and against New Zealand later this year. Debates are rife as to whether he returns to the middle order, but moving him back to number five would mean another move from Cameron Green, who has been Australia’s biggest positive with the bat in this series.
And the pressure ramps up further on Marnus Labuschagne. There is talk of misfortune and bad luck regarding his dismissal – including from the great Ricky Ponting – but the fact is Labuschagne missed a delivery a Test number three should be feasting on. After playing all round a straight half-volley from Taijul Islam in Darwin, the out-of-form batsman was out bowled behind his legs in Mackay.
Ponting says it’s time for change, and who could argue at this point? Since his last Test hundred – compiled in the fourth Ashes Test in 2023 – Labuschagne has scored 959 runs at an average of 24.6.
“I admire that they [the selectors] tried to get him and get him back to his best, but it’s been way too long now. I’m on record as saying I would have made that change at the start of this series because I think there was enough evidence for me to suggest that he was a long way from rediscovering his best,” Ponting said on Channel 7.
“He was unlucky today. There’s no doubt about that. But that tends to happen to you as well when you’re struggling and you’re trying to find some form and some rhythm,” Ponting continued, before revealing Labuschagne’s biggest technical deficiency.
“The worry that I had with him, I think there’s some technical deficiency there but he’s making the margin for error for the bowlers too great. With the length, he can’t score off the back foot. If you can’t score off the back foot in Test cricket then batting becomes a hard game. So I well and truly think it’s time to have a look at somebody else.”
Australia fell to 41/3, before Green (51*) and Steve Smith (42) combined for the most settled part of the day. The pair combined for 77 runs before Smith was out to a tight LBW call. It was one Australia are right to feel aggrieved over, but the batting thereafter was as shoddy as it comes.
Alex Carey, so dependable over the years, gifted his wicket away in awful fashion when calmness was the order of the hour. Beau Webster’s horrible series continued, out first ball. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc were then dismissed in quick fashion against a rampant Shoriful who had the ball on a string, and all of a sudden Bangladesh could think of limiting the lead to under 100.
Green and Nathan Lyon took the hosts to a lead of 101, and while Australia are hot favourites to win this match, they’ve kept the door open for Bangladesh.
Australia’s batting woes: Critical Sheffield Shield season awaits, but who should go to South Africa?
Australia have significant questions to answer on the batting lineup and need players to put their hand up in First Class cricket. Ponting has called for Campbell Kellaway and Ollie Peake in the Test side, but a consistent run of form in Shield can do wonders for their confidence.
Nathan McSweeney and Kurtis Patterson are considered frontrunners for a berth at number three, but a South Africa tour is one hell of a difficult place to make an impression.
So, should the answer be to move Steve Smith up a spot with Green at four and Head back at five? Former captain Ian Chappell believes that’s the way to go.
“I mean, Australia needs a number three. Labuschagne’s not playing like a number three, and he’s not playing very well. Smith should have been at number three all along because he’s the best player, and he’s equipped to bat at three,” Chappell told nine.com.au.
“If his preference is to bat at four, well, that’s too bad, mate. You’re our number three. Smith would succeed at three because he’s a very good player. That’s their other option. Whether Smith will go to three, that’s another matter. But those are the tough decisions selectors have got to make, and they’ve got themselves into this mess because they haven’t been very brave, and I don’t think they’re very good.”
The question there, however, is who opens? Australia are struggling to land on one opener let alone two.
Chappell says Sam Konstas is worth the gamble. But is he the answer at this stage? That being said, who is?
Australia is gripped with questions that desperately need answering in the upcoming Sheffield Shield. But given the South Africa tour begins before the domestic season, there is the possibility a new player or two will be thrown in the deep end after selectors made the call to persist with under pressure batters for this Bangladesh series.
Time will tell as to whether those players will sink or swim against the likes of Kagiso Rabada (if fit), Marco Jansen and co.
