AUSTRALIA AIM TO SALVAGE PRIDE
Chittagong, Sept. 3: Heavily criticised after their first-ever Test defeat to Bangladesh, Australia are desperate to restore some lost pride when the teams meet in the second and final Test, starting in Chittagong on Monday.
The visitors were slammed by Australian media when they lost the opening match in Dhaka by 20 runs and coach Darren Lehmann admitted the players had been stung by the level of condemnation of the team’s performance.
“The boys are all hurting with the criticism you get,” Lehmann told reporters.
“(But) you deserve that when you don’t win. It is not good enough when you lose a Test match to anyone, but Bangladesh are tough at home.”
Chittagong does at least hold some fond memories for the Australians as they try to salvage a drawn series.
The only previous time they played a Test there, in 2006, the visitors won by an innings and 80 runs with nightwatchman Jason Gillespie scoring an unbeaten double century.
But Bangladesh are a more formidable opponent now and the biggest challenge facing Australia’s players is to find a way to
combat the home team’s spinners.
All but one of Australia’s 20 wickets in the series opener fell to spin, and the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium pitch in Chittagong is expected to favour slow bowling.
Australia have recalled left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe for the injured Josh Hazlewood and could play him alongside their frontline spinners Nathan Lyon
and Ashton Agar.
O’Keefe was impressive during this year’s Test series in India, capturing 19 wickets, including a matchwinning 12-wicket haul in the first Test victory.
Australia eventually lost the series 2-1 but Lehmann hinted that O’Keefe could be rushed back into the playing side.
“The way the wicket was you are not going to have too many overs bowled by
the quicks as the game goes on and we expect the same sort of pitch,” he said.
Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, who took the match-clinching final wicket in Dhaka, said the home side was also hoping for a turning pitch.
“I hope it (wicket) will remain the same because we are expecting another win,” he said.