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A fighting comeback from Bangladesh wasn’t enough to prevent Australia from taking a lead, but has it reached substantial enough proportions? Follow all the action of the fourth day of this Test match from the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong from 1:20pm (AEST) right here on The Roar.
By stumps on day two, Australia had got themselves into a position from which they could have batted Bangladesh out of the game.
It wasn’t the most spiteful of pitches. And the sapping weather, as much it had affected Peter Handscomb on the second day, looked like it had taken the juice out of the Bangladeshi bowling as well. Meanwhile, that early morning shower would have not only cooled things down a tad but also given the batsmen some extra recovery time.
Instead, Australia were left with another collapse that restricted their lead to 72 by stumps, and with just one wicket standing it might not be much more than that. What was interesting to watch was that the batsmen would come in, get themselves set, and when it looked like the danger of falling away quickly had elapsed, they fell.
Handscomb should have kicked on to get to his 100. Instead, he backed up too far in a bid to help David Warner through to his century and was left run-out.
Hilton Cartwright made 18 confident runs and then departed to a poorly-executed drive to a wide ball outside off.
Matthew Wade knew there was a reverse-swinging yorker coming but failed to get his bat down in time.
Even Ashton Agar battled his way through to 22 – that needed 35 balls – and then attempted a drive against the turn and from the rough. Bowled.
Glenn Maxwell battled hard for his 38, eschewing risk after having been once early in the innings before one snuck through, got some inside edge and was unfortunate to have been caught the way he was.
The good news, however, is that Australia are in the lead. If they can try and push it up to 100, there looks to be enough in the surface for the slow bowlers. If pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman’s spell is anything to go by, Pat Cummins could well be relishing bowling a few in short bursts as well.
There is that rain factor too. Rain is predicted on both the remaining two days, which could allow Bangladesh the leeway of batting for much a shorter time to save the game. At this stage, however, Australia need to think of trying to bowl their opposition out quickly.
They will take heart from the fact that Bangladesh haven’t been extraordinary with the bat in the series, with scores of 260, 221 and 305 to their name.
Follow the live scores and blog of the fourth day of the second Test between Bangladesh and Australia from 1:20pm (AEST) here on The Roar.
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