Darwin, Aug 16 — Australia batter Steve Smith admitted his side was simply outplayed by Bangladesh in all three departments after suffering a historic nine-wicket defeat in the opening Test of the two-match series at Marrara Oval on Sunday.
Bangladesh bowled Australia out for 198 in the first innings before posting 426 in reply. The hosts showed some resistance in their second innings, with Cameron Green scoring 104, but were eventually dismissed for 284, leaving Bangladesh with only 57 runs to win.
“Pretty simple: we were outplayed. I thought Bangladesh bowled really well the first morning, really disciplined. Our batters probably weren’t disciplined enough,” Smith said after Australia suffered their first Test defeat of the series as quoted by The Daily Star.
Bangladesh completed the chase in just 14.2 overs, with Mominul Haque remaining unbeaten on 30 and Shadman Islam making 25 not out, to secure their first-ever Test victory on Australian soil.
Smith admitted Australia failed to build partnerships despite several batters getting starts.
“They got too many in front, and we weren’t able to catch it up yesterday on what was a pretty decent wicket to bat on. A couple of us got starts and didn’t go on with it. Greeny, I thought, played really nicely to get a hundred, but he didn’t have any partners to go with him,” he said.
Green’s 104 provided Australia with their biggest resistance in the second innings, but Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed 5-52 to dismantle the Australian middle and lower order, while Hasan Mahmud finished with match figures of 9-111.
Smith felt Australia needed a substantially bigger lead to remain competitive in the Test.
“We needed probably 200 at least plus to be in the game there,” he said.
The defeat marked only Australia’s second Test loss to Bangladesh, with their previous defeat coming in Dhaka in 2017. It also handed Bangladesh a 1-0 lead in the two-match series and ensured they cannot lose the series.
Despite the big defeat, Smith backed Australia to bounce back and insisted the result should not overshadow their sustained performances as the world’s top-ranked Test side.
“I hope it’s one bad week. We’re the number one team for a reason. We’ve played really good, consistent cricket over a long period of time, and this week was a bit of a blip,” he said.
Smith also gave full credit to Bangladesh for their performance throughout the four-day Test.
“We could have done things a lot better, but credit goes to them for the way they played throughout these last four days,” he said.
The second Test will be played next week at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay, where Australia will look to level the series, and Bangladesh will aim to complete a historic series victory.