Australia v Bangladesh: Paceman Josh Hazlewood leaves field with injury
DAVID Warner returned to his blazing best on Tuesday night to lead a scintillating run chase which could deliver the unlikeliest of victories.
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UPDATE: DAVID Warner returned to his blazing best on Tuesday night to lead a scintillating run chase which could be bound for glory in Dhaka on Wednesday, after spin king Nathan Lyon earlier revived Australia’s first Test hopes against Bangladesh.
Australia stared chastening defeat square in the eye on day three, only to stage a gutsy comeback that is now pinned on a match-defining partnership between Warner and the skipper Steve Smith.
Warner had been under the microscope over his mounting run of outs on the subcontinent, but Tuesday night’s courageous knock illustrated why he has been crowned Australia’s Allan Border Medallist two years running.
FIRST TEST: Hazlewood ruled out
Growing in confidence with every ball he stroked, Warner had by stumps guided Australia from being 265 behind to a position of strength at 2-109. As long as Warner (75 not out off 96 balls) remains at the crease, the 156 left needed to pull off one of the great subcontinental comebacks could come quickly on day four.
With the captain (Smith, 25 not out) and vice-captain charging in unison (partnership unbeaten on 81), Australia will be rightly confident. But the snap departures of Matt Renshaw and Usman Khawaja last night was a sharp reminder how collapses are never far away on a fourth-innings deck that will continue to break up and spin.
This epic David v Goliath Test match remains in the balance but just like he’s done on countless occasions on fast pitches, Warner single-handedly turned the game’s momentum with an intimidating and thrilling exhibition of rearguard batting.
The highest-ever successful fourth-innings chase by an Australian side in Asia was against Bangladesh back in 2006 when they mowed down 307, but their next best mark was 195 against India in Bangalore, showing how hard these chases are to pull off.
However, Australia wouldn’t have even been in with a shot if it wasn’t for the inspiring six-wicket haul and run-out work of Lyon, which came despite oppressive conditions in the field and Josh Hazlewood forced off the field with a side injury that will likely rule him out of the tour.
Fresh from surpassing Australian icon Richie Benaud, Lyon has now flown past one of England’s greats Graeme Swann with nine scalps for the match to further build his champion legacy.
Australia’s senior men didn’t come to the party in the first innings, but in last night’s hour of need the captain and vice-captain stood up to be counted.
The pressure to avoid an unwanted place in the record books as the first Australian team to lose a Test to the ninth-ranked Bangladesh was enormous, and when Khawaja found another unfortunate way to be dismissed to leave the tourists reeling at 2-28 — still a million miles away from the challenging target — the small but vocal crowd suddenly surged behind their charges with more than 30 overs still left to bat out the day.
It appeared all but curtains for Australia when Bangladesh celebrated wildly thinking they had Steve Smith stumped — a sinking feeling that got a whole lot worse when the captain started walking off the field.
However, replays showed Smith had a millimetre of his boot inside the crease and he survived — a moment that may well be looked back upon as the turning point in a thrilling match.
A few balls later Smith was dropped at short leg on three and suddenly Bangladesh might have been having flashbacks to the horror India faced earlier this year in Pune when they let the Australian master off the hook only for him to rebound with one of the most extraordinary fourth-innings hundreds of all time.
But last night it was Warner doing all the running.
For the majority of the tour of India, Warner didn’t look like his normal self.
Last night though the second guessing went out the window, and Warner took the conditions out of the equation as he smashed 10 fours and a six in a momentum shifting performance that deserves a second Asian hundred to go with his one against Pakistan in the UAE.
Lyon justified his new standing in Australian cricket as the second highest spin wicket-taker of all time on Tuesday.
His 6-82 from a workmanlike 34.2 overs kept Australia breathing.
Despite the conditions and the loss of Hazlewood, Australian’s body language never dropped despite the enormous pressure they found themselves under from the ninth-ranked team in world cricket and Lyon led a late rally with his display also featuring a freakish fingertip run-out.
Ashton Agar also got in on the act in his impressive return to Test cricket, and took his fifth wicket of the match thanks to a superb low under-edge catch from keeper Matthew Wade.
Teammates say Warner changed the match.
“It’s amazing. He’s such a big player for us and you can just see it in his eye when he was out there,” said Pat Cummins.
“He was so focused and we always say ‘be The Bull,’ and he looked like he was the Bull out there — just focused, taking the game on and he got his 50 rapidly.
“I think it just changes the whole momentum but also the mindset for all the other batsmen who are to come in. It’s just taking the game on, it’s great.
“I think (we are) in a great position. I think the pitch seems to have mellowed out a little bit compared to day one. I think keeping our target to 260 really kept us in the game and to finish off tonight like we did, if we have a good first hour tomorrow should really set the game up. I think we’re in a really great position.
“I’m certainly really confident. Smithy and Dave looked like they had really good game plans out there and I guess they were in control so that’s really promising and it’s only 150 runs away so a good couple of hours in the morning and hopefully we get pretty close.”
Scoreboard Tuesday at stumps on the third day of the first test between Australia and Bangladesh:
Bangladesh 1st Innings: 260
Australia 1st Innings: 217
Bangladesh 2nd Innings: 221
Australia 2nd Innings: (Target: 265)
David Warner not out 75
Matt Renshaw lbw Hasan 5
Usman Khawaja c T Islam b Shakib 1
Steven Smith not out 25
Extras: (3b) 3 TOTAL: (For 2 wickets) 109 Overs: 30 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-28.
Still to bat: Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood
Bowling: Mehidy Hasan 14-2-51-1, Nasir Hossain 3-2-2-0, Shakib Al Hasan 8-2-28-1, Taijul Islam 4-0-17-0, Mustafizur Rahman 1-0-8-0.
Toss: Bangladesh.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Nigel Llong, England.
TV Umpire: Ian Gould, England. Match Referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.
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