Australia’s captain Pat Cummins has indicated potential changes to the squad ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh, following a disappointing defeat in Darwin on Sunday. Cummins acknowledged Bangladesh’s historic victory, marking their first Test win on Australian soil. The Australian team struggled significantly, managing a mere 57 runs in their second innings, which allowed Bangladesh to secure the win by chasing down the target with nine wickets remaining.
The Aussie skipper then hinted that there might be changes in the pipeline after a full-strength Australian side lost to Bangladesh for the first time at home.
And, yeah, once we were behind, it was really hard to get back,” he said. “I think every time there’s a game like this, you always kind of look at your match-ups and your make-up of the team for the next one. But we only just finished, so we’ll think about it. We’re pretty good at bouncing back, so no doubt the batters and every group will get together and have a good think about this one and where we can improve,” he added. The long formats’ skipper also reserved special praise for the visiting Asian side, stating that they ‘outplayed them in all facets’ before taking out the positives from the loss. “(On Bangladesh having played well) Yeah, they did. I think they outplayed us in all facets, really. I thought they were really patient and quite disciplined.
All-rounder Cameron Green scored his first Test hundred after two-and-a-half years, while returning from his injury, Josh Hazlewood picked a six-wicket haul in the first innings to complete his 300 wickets in the red-ball international format.
So he was fantastic,” Cummins said. There were only a handful of positives for the hosts in their recent drubbing. “Josh, he hasn’t had a great run for injuries the last couple of years, but he’s one of the hardest workers and just showed his class. And, you know, didn’t have too much in it, seam-wise, still picking up six really important wickets.
He also pointed out where it all went wrong while hinting that there might be changes in the team for the second game, which gets underway from August 22 in Mackay. Speaking after the nine-wicket loss, Cummins pointed out that their catapulting on Day 1 was the key reason behind this loss.
But I thought they played really well,” he told broadcasters here after the defeat. “Probably that day one. You know, I thought our preparation was pretty much spot on. I thought it was excellent. So, no excuses. They played really well. I thought the day-one wicket was doing a little bit early, but obviously got to try and find a way to bat a little bit longer than we did, and then, just couldn’t penetrate with the ball.
