Conditions haunt Tigers despite encouraging ‘evidence’

It is hard not to view Bangladesh’s woes in the just-concluded second and final Test against Australia yesterday as anything other than their batting unit reverting to type. There was tremendous fight shown during the Tigers’ historic tour Down Under after 23 years, but their old batting ailments were never too far away after the Darwin triumph.

Australia posed a conditions-based challenge apart from their fiery pace attack. But in Darwin, Bangladesh had the rub of the green, finding a surface that was not typically Australian -- offering movement but not the usual pace and bounce.

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In Mackay, though, Australia got the conditions they wanted. Mitchell Starc, the destroyer-in-chief, described the wicket as being similar to the Gabba. The wind factor also aided Starc’s outswingers in particular, just as it did for Shoriful Islam. However, Bangladesh’s batters, unfamiliar with such conditions, capitulated inside two days, making it the second-shortest Test ever played in Australia.

Bangladesh’s batting struggles in away conditions have been a recurring concern. After the epic win over New Zealand in Mount Maunganui in slightly favourable conditions, their batting faltered in Christchurch against pace and bounce.

The Tigers showed methodical patience in Darwin, but the same batters failed to replicate that discipline in Mackay. That slight chink in the armour against pace and bounce produced starkly contrasting outputs.

Starc exploited Shadman Islam’s tendency to fall over while playing deliveries swinging from leg to off in both innings. Mominul Haque, usually so adept at finding gaps between point and gully, failed to keep the ball on the ground on Saturday. Even tail-enders like Hasan Mahmud, who handled Australian quicks with clarity in Darwin, abandoned getting behind deliveries as extra bounce caused discomfort.

The adjustment required proved too big a challenge to overcome. It happened in Christchurch after the historic Mount Maunganui victory, and following Darwin, it happened again in Mackay as Bangladesh folded for 64 and 95.

While the wicket played its part in making batting difficult, the visitors also made things harder for themselves. In the last five years, Bangladesh have been bowled out for fewer than 200 runs in 27 of their 66 Test innings.

Having an all-left-handed top four also contributed to their vulnerability. Starc showed that, with the conditions in his favour, he was the ideal matchup for Bangladesh’s top order with his outswingers. At one stage in the second innings, he had dismissed seven left-handers across the two innings while giving away just 14 runs.

It is hard to argue that unfamiliarity to conditions contributed to batting collapses. After all, England, despite playing far more matches in Australia, have also regularly struggled in those conditions.

“It was a quite difficult wicket to bat,” skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said at the post-match presentation. “We need to be consistent and I believe if we get more chances in similar conditions it will help us. And that's what we want. Not 23 years to wait to come here.

“We won a good match here and it’s something to be proud of. These kinds of evidence will help us in Tests.”

Shanto and company would know that, beyond success and failure, they have experienced alien conditions in one of the toughest environments for touring teams. The next step after the pace revolution is finding batting solutions.