Climate of unease in countdown to Test

THE Bangladeshi weather is proving challenging in more ways than one for Australia’s Test squad, with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell suffering heatstroke during training.

Maxwell has revealed he fell ill during the first day of training in Dhaka heading into the first Test, starting on Sunday.

The monsoon season has featured periodic rain and thunderstorms giving way to sweltering heat and humidity.

“I copped a bit of heatstroke on the first day, which wasn’t a good start,” Maxwell said.

“I think just doing some running outside, then I had to go inside to do some fitness testing, and going back outside probably didn’t help too much.

“Basically, my body shut down a little bit, but I was fine after a bit of an ice bath and plenty of fluids.”

Steve Smith’s men had a light training session yesterday, with a waterlogged ground having earlier forced the cancellation of a tour match. It was a different story on Tuesday when the squad trained in the heat for almost three hours, pushing pacemen Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Jackson Bird to the point of exhaustion.

“Yesterday was obviously pretty tough,” Maxwell said.

“Obviously, with the morning rain and the overnight rain, I think all the moisture’s coming out of the ground and making it quite sweaty work for us.

“But it’s been good. We’ve got a lot out of the last few days, basically putting on the finishing touches for day one.”

Australia’s disrupted preparation has raised questions about their level of readiness to face an improving Bangladeshi side that has proved tough to beat on home soil.

But Maxwell said the squad’s pre-tour training camp in tropical Darwin had been more than ample preparation.

“The way we prepared in Darwin, I think the wickets were perfect,” he said.