Apparently the game starts today at 2pm.

I'm quite excited. I think it is the first time we've played a series there that has been televised.

After being abysmal on the subcontinent in recent times, we played well in India earlier in the year against Test cricket's current number one nation.

As usual, we have two of our star fast bowlers injured - Starc and Pattinson.

toss in half an hour
presumably 1st 11 as well

O'keefe, arguably our best player in these conditions, has been dropped because of off field indescretions

From the distance of north america his treatment seemed a little harsh but I've only heard snippets

What indiscretions??

lost the toss
what are the teams? espn not showing

wish i had a stream :/

Some pretty silly selection decisions by Bangladesh. They left out Mominul Haque, who has a test average of 50, and they also left out batting all rounder Mahmadulah.

Pat cummins has already ripped out three early wickets - Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al hasan are going to have to bail them out.

50 is a big average to leave a player out.

Australia have gone with three spinners.

Warner, Renshaw, Khawaja, Smith, Handscomb, Maxwell, Wade, Agar, Cummins, Hazelwood, Lyon.

Edit: some interesting selections here.

Good to see Khawaja back in instead of Shaun Marsh. Maxwell getting another go at 6 is good, he can also bowl some handy offspin in India.

However I thought they might go with Wade at 6 and Agar at 7 and pick a third seamer. If they were going to pick Maxwell it might have been better to give Swepson a go.

Missed the first 110 minutes.

Cummins' spell must have been pretty lethal - or was he lucky?

With Maxwell selected as well as Agar and Lyon, they are all finger spinners. I like the idea of a leggy like Swepson to add some variety.

Cummins bowled a very good spell early - pretty zippy and mostly bowled a full length.

His three wickets were all caught behind the wicket - two by the keeper and one at gully.

Video here:

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/pat-cummins-early-strikes-australia-bangladesh-first-test-day-one-dhaka-video-highlights/2017-08-27

Cricket Australia have a few free highlights clips on their website.

Shakib Al Hasan and Tamil Iqbal have both brought up half centuries. Century stand from them.

Maxwell has got Tamim out. Threw his wicket away really

I thought the Aussie bowlers bowled well without luck. They beat the bat consistently without luck. The Bangladesh batsmen hit a lot of edges and survived a lot of close LBW decisions, or mishit aerial shots that went away from fielders. Credit to Shamil and Tamil though. They played some good shots.

Glad to see Lyon get a well deserved wicket. He's bowled well with no luck. The batters have had a go at him which has been good to watch too. Don't know  others think, but with so much spin one sees a lot of cricket action per hour on the subcontinent. It looks hot and humid over there too. Our pace bowlers look washed out and fatigued, particularly Cummins. 

Lyon has bowled beautifully. He's now passed another great Australian spin bowler, Richie Benaud on the wickets tally.

Agar has been pretty tidy too, especially to the right handers.

And as I type this, Agar gets his third wicket. Bangladesh bowled out for 260.


I'll be interested to see the Bangladesh bowlers. Mustafizur Rahman is a dangerous left arm fast bowler with a tricky slower ball and some good off cutters. Seeing him off could be interesting.

Went to the pub to watch it.

Bangladesh going for the offspinner Mehedi opening at one end with the fast bowler Shaiful Islam from the other. Interesting they didn't throw the ball to Mustafizur first.

Ah, now I see why. The last ball of Mehedi last over barely bounces and nearly bowls Renshaw. Pitch already looking troublesome at the end of day 1.

And as I speak now Shaiful is off and Shakib (left arm spin) is on. Dave Warner nearly gets out trying to reverse sweep him first ball.

Renshaw looking a little shaky against the spinner. Hanging his bat out a bit.

Edit: Warner successfully reviews an LBW dismissal and gets it overturned. Huge inside edge.

And the next ball he's out LBW!






Edit pt2: Great decision by Bangladesh to open with the offspinner Mehedy. This pitch looks dangerous for spin.

Khawaja has run himself out second ball. Stupidity.

What was Usman doing?

That wicket has really put us under pressure!

Now nightwatchman Lyon is out - 3-14!

That's usman for ya

Welcome to the cricket section, Tom Rogic's Left Foot.

Usman's footwork against spinners is often too static.

I thought he was going to be one of the worlds best by now, thanks! I hope it picks up soon

Usman seems to be effective against pace on bouncy Aussie pitches.

Lyon walks in as a night watchman and is plumb LBW third ball to Shakib. This is utter madness.

Smith walks in at 3/14.

So far I've seen no evidence that our batsman have learned anything about facinng spin in the subcontinent. Renshaw is trying to use his bat but that's about it.

That's stumps. Smith walks off shaking his head. I don't blame him - he was the only batsman to use his feet to get to the pitch of the ball. The rest of our batsmen are just sitting in their crease waiting to get out.

Warner is a walking wicket in the subcontinent. He never uses his feet, he never sweeps, and he tries to play straight off the back foot to the sharply turning ball. It's a recipe for getting out LBW or edging one to a close fielder. I've seen him get out LBW to finger spinners so many times it's becoming a serious issue. He really needs to speak to Matthew Hayden or Steve Waugh about learning the slog sweep.

Warner hasn't done too well in the subcontinent recently.

Kawaja hasn't used his feet as well as Shaun Marsh to date despite the West Aussie playing on the WACA for the Shield.

Who is the current batting coach  for Australia? He needs to sort Warner out.

Graham Hick (former English batsman) is still the current batting coach, I think. Greg Blewett has also helped out.

3/14 what happened? Everything was looking good last i saw

In 9 overs we lost 3 wickets after bowling well for the last hour. They were out for 260 - which looks a big score ATM. 

The Bangla tail lost 4-20.

Welcome to the Cricket section, City Sam.

Steve o'Keefe and his off field issues:

http://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/australian-nsw-spinner-stephen-okeefe-fined-for-second-alcoholfuelled-incident/news-story/c22923c1d02c344fcec403c400a6b7a1

There's always been a toxic culture with cricketers, disappointing 

Warner needs to go and watch this clip of Matthew Hayden facing the spinners in India in 2001.

Watch how he either plays the big sweep shot or uses his feet to smash it down the ground.

https://youtu.be/nPSbuMHKbxc

Warner, by contrast, just tries to camp in his crease.

Haydos was fearsome with the bat

looks like agar was underbowled

Lyon has taken 6 for about 80 in the second innings. He has taken 9 for about 150 in both innings. He has slowed down his speed in the second innings, so most balls are about 85 kph instead of his 90 in the first innings.

Are you getting a stream over there, Grazor?

Aussie have been bundled out for 214. Bangladesh with the 47 run lead.

Maxwell probably the silliest dismissal of the day (stumped) but at least he was trying to be positive. Handscomb looked ok but got out in the 30s.

Smith playing down the wrong line wasn't too good either. The ball was there to be hit, but Smith played down the wrong line. For a player of Smith's calibre it was a shocker! In the second dig the captain has looked more composed, if a trifle lucky.

Warner's form looks like his best on the subcontinent in this second dig. His brutal batting has forced them into bowling mistakes. More bad balls have been bowled by Bangladesh as Warner has put the pressure back on them. His punishment of loose balls has been savage, which is starting to cause panic in Bangladesh. Until Smith has been at the crease with Warner, we have often looked brittle. No other Australian batsman outside these two have played over 24 tests - Kawaja. The Australian batting line up is very inexperienced.

Pretty good day for Bangladesh. Shakib took 5 wickets and has a 5-for against every test nation.

We managed to grab one wicket before the close.

One positive -Agar batted well at number 8. His 41 probably kept us competitive in the game.

Are we seriously loosing to Bangladesh?? That's disgraceful, granted they're at home but come on. I remember agar from his 98? Batting at number 11 in the ashes. Haven't watched a great deal of cricket since then.

    It is pretty even now at stumps on the third day. As long as Warner and Smith stay there we are on top. Australia has hammered them in the second innings.

   Many Australians don't realise how crap we are in the subcontinent. Some stats appeared on Fox for the average number of runs per wicket from all ten test playing nations in the four subcontinental nations in the last 10 - 20 years. We are the worst! India top the averages with 40 runs scored per wicket taken on average. Australia is bottom, tenth, with an average of 26 runs scored for every wicket lost.
 
 Many Australians who don't have play TV only watch us play test cricket in Australia. We are good on bouncy pitches at home, because hardly anyone plays on them. We are currently the worst team in India, Pakistan ( UAE), Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, on turning wickets. 

amazingly we have been pretty competitive despite that probably because of our bowling

Also india served up moonscape pitches so perhaps they doctor their pitches for us more (or the sri lanka series was bad enough to drop our average)

losing to bangladesh is pretty poor

Could be worse, it could be in football

Not much in it at stumps on day three.

With Australia 2 for over 100 and only  about 160 behind, things are looking up.

Warner and Smith batting together, and with their eye in, seems like we are on top. They've scored about 80 in a very short time. Warner has 70 odd off only 50 odd balls! The crowd has been silenced and Bangladesh were dropping their heads in the  last 10 overs before  stumps.

Much better. A good Performance from Warner in the second innings. He is being a lot more positive and setting the tone rather than letting the spinners just bowl at him. When you play aggressively it can throw the bowlers off their length.

Lyon bowled beautifully. Now he has figured out how to bowl in the subcontinent his average will head south.

Agree.

He is our most important bowler ATM in home and away Tests. I think he is the most experienced Test bowler too.

A few years ago Lyon suggested that Aussie spinners hadn't learnt to back spin the ball as much as subcontinental  bowlers.

great fightback
shame I can't watch!

I'm in Japan currently and I seen what I think was a professional cricket match happening? Do they have a team? 

Excellent hundred by Warner, he obviously was listening to my advice! Was a lot more positive with his footwork.

Aussies are 3 down with 100 more runs to get. Smith and Handscomb at the crease

Another collapse, 66 runs needed 3 wickets remaining.

Historic moment for Bangladesh cricket - their first test win over Australia.

. Shakib cut a swathe through us again and we got bowled out 20 runs short. He finishes man of the match after scoring 84 and taking two five wicket hauls. Huge performance by him and all the other Bangladesh bowlers.

Feel sorry for Pat cummins who scored 33no but ran out of partners.

Cummins played better than most of the specialist batters.

agar and cummins batted well. O'keefe is pretty good too

I wish we had neville in the squad. I was against him being dropped he was showing improvement. Wade's poor batting is affecting the balance of the team

Renshaw and maxwell have at different times shown promise on the subcontinent. They should come good

khawaja who bats in such a key position is a worry

 We have Wade back for Tasmania. Although the conditions were difficult, Wade's keeping wasn't as good as Nevill's against Bangladesh. 

It seems  our main problem is a dearth of quality batters, at home and away, in the the 26 - 34 year old age group. Only Smith are Warner are experienced and high quality. Even Warner has struggled on the subcontinent.

The opener, Renshaw is too inexperienced. He has been selected at a very young age because those older, are deficient  in quality.

Warner - experienced, but often struggles on subcontinental pitches, although outstanding in his last innings of this game.

Khawaja -  just coming back into the team. is far better on bouncy Aussie pitches and against pace than subcontinental spin. His footwork isn't nimble enough.

Smith - our best  player in home and away conditions, but didn't deliver in this game. Australia is too reliant on him.

Hanscomb - too inexperienced, but like Renshaw has talent. Many batters fade though as international  bowlers work them out.

Maxwell - looks to have talent, but again is too inexperienced.

Wade - was selected for supposedly having superior batting to Nevill, but struggled with both bat and keeping in this game.


The main problem is bouncy Aussie pitches in general, and Perth in particular. Too many mediocre Shield pace bowlers look good in Aussie conditions and do the lion's share of Shield bowling. They would struggle in all four subcontinental nations. The fact Agar plays for Australia, but can barely get a bowl  at the WACA in home games is counterproductive for national interests.

Far too few spin bowlers pay Shield cricket - and in conditions that favour them.  Our batter don't get enough experience in dealing with these conditions either. Too many mediocre pace bowlers have too easy a time getting wickets in the Shield. We could also look at more Shield teams - ACT and Northern Territory. 

For the powers that be to suggest going to Darwin just before a subcontinental tour to hone skill against spin, is ridiculous. Australian players need to play on pitches similar to the subcontinent  at home under match conditions to improve.

4 out of 9 opposition Test nations play under similar conditions. The Windies wickets can also be a bit closer to the subcontinent too, in that they sometimes  play low. 

Renshaw and Handscombe all though not that experienced look our most comfortable batters on the sub continent, they just need to learn to turn their good starts into a big score. The big issue though is Khawaja or whoever bats at 3 and 6 and also the keeper, crucial positions which continually lead to batting collapses and the inability to turn a poor or average score into a good one. Maxwell seems like he could be decent in the sub continent but we are really lacking a couple more people who can bat consistently which means it is about time we look for someone new instead of playing the Marshes or Khawaja and expecting different results.

I thought Khawaja had settled into the team as a regular.  However, it may have been as a batter on home pitches as opposed to the differing subcontinental conditions.

Perplexingly, it may appear that Shaun Marsh, who only has  Shield average of 39 plain every second game on the bouncy WACA, is more effective on the subcontinental pitches than in Australia.  

Khawaja seems a good choice on a flat track but has always looked completely lost when the pitch is turning, play him at home if we must but i'd definitely be looking for a replacement. The fight and desire Renshaw and Handscombe have brought to the team already has been brilliant, time to give a couple others the chance to sink or swim if you ask me because lets face it for the next test series at home we all know the likes of Mitch Marsh will be playing again.

Didn't see Handscomb play in either innings in this test, but he looked good in India. Renshaw looked uncertain in his second dig, but again did well in India. Maxwell looked confident in the first dig.

Bloody shit test result! Losing to Bangladesh is our worst loss. Although I might have heard they beat Sri Lanka at home in Sri Lanka.

stupid thing about selecting wade for his batting is that he has a lower first class average than neville (he also did at the time neville was dropped and he was starting to show some grit with the bat)

Nevill killed Tasmania last season with about 180 not out!

What do you think about  Handscomb replacing Wade as keeper?

I don't know i suspect his batting would drop if we did that because its hard to simultaneously master both disciplines without losing a few points on your batting average

Its not like we have a gazillion batters banging the door down anyway (although perhaps lynn should be in the team)

Alan Border has called for Nevill to keep instead of Wade, who he thinks is keeping terribly with 30 byes against Bangladesh. 

I saw Wade's test hundred against SL at the SCG in 2013 and he was excellent, but at the moment he looks a shadow of his former self. He is a more aggressive batsman and personality than Nevill, but Nevill is the superior keeper, especially to spin. Some argue that Nevill is also a better batsman, and that may be true, but he is more of an accumulator than a hitter. Smith seems to want aggressive batsmen down the order.

Wade since his return has averaged roughly the same with the bat as Nevill did when dropped - low 20s. In fact he was out of form when he was brought back. He hasn't looked like getting runs since.

Nevill was out of form with bat and gloves when he was dropped. He came good again with the bat during the last shield season but I didn't see him keeping.

It's a pretty tough call to drop Wade, but perhaps shield form in the lead up to the ashes should be looked at. We can't have guys scoring no runs at number 7.

I saw Nevill keep in the Shield after being dropped.

I'm no expert, but I often sit in the members with a few former Shield players and first grade cricketers. They all thought Nevill kept very well against Tasmania.

Wade is very unpopular in the cricket milieu here, as is his father (a former AFL footballer and former head of AFL Tasmania),  even though he is a Tasmanian.

Who are our openers? Marsh and warner still??

Warner and Renshaw.