Starc’s 10 wickets leads Australia to victory in 2nd Test against Bangladesh
Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket match haul lifted Australia to a morale-boosting victory by an innings and 51 runs in the second cricket test as it leveled the two-match series against Bangladesh inside two days.
Starc returned match figures of 10-51 after taking four wickets on Sunday to go with his incredible 6-12 on a wild Day 1, which saw Bangladesh bundled out for 64 before the hosts also had its struggles on a spicy pitch at Mackay, in northern Queensland state.
It was the evergreen left-arm swing bowler’s fourth ten-wicket haul in Tests and also saw him move past South Africa pace great Dale Steyn into 10th on the all-time list with 445 wickets, with Starc having no thoughts of finishing up yet.
(The body’s) still hanging together, I thoroughly enjoy being a part of this group,” said Starc, named player-of-the-series for his 12 wickets across the two matches. “Test cricket, I’ve said it before, it will always be the pinnacle for me. I’d like to milk my body for all I can for Test cricket, and that’s how it’ll remain.” Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon (3-25) each took three wickets to support Starc as Bangladesh could only manage 95 in its second innings to hand Australia a comprehensive win after its shock loss in last week’s first test at Darwin. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored for the visitors with 31, while Mushfiqur Rahim had an unbeaten 29, but the pair had very little help from the remaining tourist batters, with only two scoring above double digits.
I think this is a different condition (to the first test in Darwin) and there’s a little bit more extra bounce and swing in the air,” Shanto said. “So it’s challenging for us, but as a team if we want to go forward we need to adjust and I hope this experience will help going forward.” Earlier Sunday, Australia resumed at 165-8 with Cameron Green and Nathan Lyon adding another 28 useful runs Sunday for the ninth wicket. After also taking six wickets on Day 1, Shoriful Islam soon picked up his seventh with a searing inswinging yorker which struck Green on the front foot and was given out leg before wicket on review.
Shoriful’s 7-48 was the best bowling figures for a Bangladesh player away from home. Green’s 67 off 105 balls with 10 boundaries was the top score of the match so far and follows his breakthrough home century in the first test at Darwin to lock down his place in Australia’s middle order. “We’ve got 20 tests coming up this year, so yeah, you want to get off to a good start, and I felt like I have done that, Green said. “So now it’s just building on that and finding something that works and just continue with it.
Lyon (32 not out) and Josh Hazlewood then pushed Australia’s score past 200 before Hazelwood (6) skied a catch off Taijul Islam (1-17) to end the innings at 210, and a significant first innings lead of 146 runs on a bowlers’ wicket. Fresh from taking 6-12 in the first innings, Starc again tormented Bangladesh’s top order in the second innings taking another two wickets in consecutive balls to have the visitors’ reeling early in its chase.
