Australia staring at defeat in Bangladesh

Australia went some way to banishing the nightmares of previous Asian tours with their impressive performance in India. But those horrific memories hung low over Dhaka yesterday as Australia’s batting line-up crumbled.

Before analysing this collapse, significant credit must be given to the Bangladesh bowlers who applied heavy pressure throughout the innings, offering very few release balls.

Worthy of particular praise were spin pair Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan. The former underlined why he fully deserves his ranking as the world’s number one Test all-rounder, operating with unrelenting precision en route to a haul of 5-68.

Shakib has had a profound impact on this match, having top-scored in the first innings with 84, a score which is worth so much more than that number suggests on what is a tricky pitch.

Mehedi, meanwhile, bowled with a level of accuracy which is extraordinary for a 19-year-old spinner. He continually found a challenging length which caught the Australian batsmen in two minds.

Australia’s two most vulnerable batsmen in Asian conditions, David Warner and Usman Khawaja, again showed in this innings why neither should be automatic choices when playing on the subcontinent.

Warner continually misreads the lengths of spinners and, while he can get away with this on true Australian pitches, it amounts to a death warrant in Asia.

Twice in a row in the sixth over he completely misjudged the length of off spinner Mehedi Hasan – both times he was adjudged LBW, the first time incorrectly and the second correctly.

That brought to the crease Khawaja, whose problem against spin on such surfaces is largely a mental one. Opposed to spin on Australian pitches he is confident and proactive.

Transport him to Asia and Khawaja looks beset by panic. This anxiety seemed to prompt his suicidal attempt at a single, as he sought to get off strike so desperately that he set off for a run when there was none.

Khawaja now averages a paltry 16 with the bat from his five Tests in Asia. Warner’s average in Asia is better, at 29, but is quickly nosediving, having averaged 24 across his eight Tests in Asia in the past 13 months.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

After being 3-18 at stumps, Australia plunged deeper into crisis early in the first session yesterday when captain Steve Smith was clean bowled by Mehedi.

Advancing down the wicket, Smith was in perfect position to whip the ball through the on side, a shot which brought him so many runs in India.

This time, however, Smith closed his bat face too early, mistakenly looking to strike the ball through square leg rather than mid-on.

At 4-33 Australia needed a steady partnership. That is what they got from young opener Matt Renshaw and blossoming middle order batsman Peter Handscomb.

That pair both showed great signs against spin in India. They have the patience to wait for the right balls to attack, and have good, clear plans on how to earn singles and twos in the meantime. Renshaw used his height to not only reach down and smother the spin in defence, but to stretch out and sweep the spinners effectively.

Handscomb, meanwhile, also used the sweep liberally and was more aggressive with this stroke than Renshaw, lofting the ball over the infield in front of square. In defence, however, he was more inclined to play off the back foot.

This was what brought him undone in the end as he stepped back to a flat delivery from left arm spinner Taijul Islam which would have been better met on the front foot.

Handscomb was plumb LBW. Then Renshaw edged to slip, and keeper Matthew Wade made the massive error of not reviewing an incorrect LBW decision which always looked to be going down the leg side.

All-rounder Glenn Maxwell was at ease in the difficult conditions, cruising to 23 before telegraphing his intent to come down the wicket, allowing Shakib to drop the ball shorter and wider to earn a stumping.

(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

At 8-144, still 116 runs in arrears and having to bat last on a crumbling pitch, Australia looked all but dead.

They were revived by a mature, patient stand between tail enders Ashton Agar (41no) and Pat Cummins (25). Playing with great caution those youngsters managed to defy the Bangladesh bowlers for 25 overs. In doing so, they revealed that the pitch, while difficult, was far from unplayable.

This became all the more apparent when the Bangladesh openers moved, without any great trouble, through the first 20 overs of their second innings.

The hosts were helped by some curious strategies from Smith who, it must be said, quite frequently uses his bowlers poorly. Quality quicks Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who reduced Bangladesh to 3-10 in the first innings, looked threatening with the new ball, earning disconcerting bounce and noticeable seam movement.

Yet they were offered just three and two overs apiece before Smith went to spin. The early introduction of number one spinner Nathan Lyon was not a blunder, although Cummins definitely deserved more than two overs.

But it was confounding to see a shiny new ball handed to Maxwell after just six overs. To that point, Bangladesh had scored just eight runs and were under heavy pressure. That was promptly released as Maxwell went for 11 runs off his first over.

None of Australia’s three spinners were able to tangle batsmen in the way we saw when Bangladesh were bowling. The only wicket to fall was gifted to the visitors when Soumya Sarkar aimed an ugly heave at a loopy delivery from Agar.

At stumps Bangladesh were 1-45, with a lead of 88 which seems very substantial on a pitch on which Australia will struggle to chase anything over 150.