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Bangladesh vs Australia: Cricket live scores, blog, 1st Test Highlights - Day 3

29th August, 2017
First ball: 2pm (AEST) - 10am (local)
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel app and Foxtel now
Betting: Australia $1.57, Bangladesh $6, drawn $3.40
Overall record: Played 4, Australia 4, Bangladesh 0
Last meeting: April 16-20, 2006 - Australia won by an innings and 80 runs in Chittagong
Umpires: Nigel Llong and Aleem Dar

Bangladesh (squad)
Tamim Iqbal, Souyma Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Shabbir Rahaman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Nasir Hossain, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman

Australia
David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Ashton Agar, Patrick Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon
Pat Cummins (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Roar Guru
29th August, 2017
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35162 Reads

Australia have a big task in front of them when they enter the third day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka today. Follow all the day’s action from the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium from 2pm (AEST) right here on The Roar.

» Looking for Day 4? Click here!

There was always that niggling fear that this Australia’s tour of Bangladesh was never going to be an easy one despite the obvious disparity in the rankings between the two sides.

Bangladesh had usurped England and beaten Sri Lanka recently and with Australia’s issues in the subcontinent having made headlines almost every time they toured, the series had an interesting feel to it.

Two days into the first Test match, Australia might not quite be facing down the wrong end of the barrel, but the Bangladesh gun has already been loaded and the shot could well be taken soon enough if things don’t change for the tourists.

Australia looked to have got themselves into a reasonable position when they bowled Bangladesh out for 260 after having lost a crucial toss, but their woes against spin came back to haunt them late on day one and throughout day two.

Having lost David Warner to lack of turn and Usman Khawaja to a very avoidable run-out, Steven Smith led the procession on the second day.

Once Smith had yorked himself to a Mehedi Hasan delivery, two of the more inexperienced men in the line-up, Matt Renshaw and Peter Handscomb, did bail the tourists out of trouble, at least for a short time.

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The duo added 69 for the fourth wicket and for a while it even seemed like Australia had a chance of going past the Bangladesh score.

But as is so often the case on pitches like these, one wicket brings another. And then another couple.

Handscomb was trapped in front of the stumps to one that didn’t turn from left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, and Renshaw nicked Shakib-al-Hasan to first slip. When Matthew Wade’s nine-ball innings was ended by Mehedi Hasan, the tourists had slipped to 6/117.

Fighting efforts from Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins helped them cross the 200-run mark but there was only so much they could do and Bangladesh went into their innings with a 43-run lead.

By stumps on day two, Australia had plucked out the wicket of Soumya Sarkar but the Bangladesh lead had extended to 88.

Another 200 or so more runs from here on and Bangladesh will be firmly in the driver’s seat on a surface that’s resembling the landmine Australia faced in the first Test on their recent tour of India.

The only difference was that Australia had batted first in that game and they will be chasing in this one.

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Can an Australian bowler stand up, much like Steve O’Keefe had in the first innings of that game, to allow them a shot at chasing down a reasonable score?

Or will the likes of Tamim, Shakib and co. take the game away from the Aussies on day three?

Follow the live scores and commentary of the third day of the first Test between Bangladesh and Australia from 3pm (AEST) here on The Roar.

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