CAIRNS (Australia), July 24: Bangladesh face a huge challenge in the second Test against world champions Australia starting here on Friday, Australian skipper Steve Waugh warned on Thursday.

“I’m not going to predict carnage, but it’ll be a very good test for the Bangladesh batsmen,” Waugh said.

“There’s certainly a bit of moisture in the pitch and it’ll favour the quick bowlers.”

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, who understands Australian conditions after playing in this country and batting in seven Tests for Australia, agreed.

“You don’t have to be Einstein to work out batting has been the biggest problem facing the side,” he said.

Bangladesh have lost 19 of their first 20 Tests. Last week they crashed for totals of 97 and 178 in Darwin, being crushed by an innings and 132 runs.

Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud said his team had played on difficult pitches previously in New Zealand and South Africa.

Groundsman Kevin Mitchell has said batsmen will face a green wicket — the type of surface on which Australia’s champion pace battery of Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie are likely to be especially menacing.

Mitchell said wet weather in Cairns had produced much more grass on the pitch than he had expected for the historic first Test in the far north Queensland city.

Waugh sounded a further ominous note for the tourists, saying his side had room to improve from Darwin.

“We’ve got a lot of improvement in us,” he said. “People expect Bangladesh to improve from the first Test, but I expect us to improve more.”

Teams:

Australia: Steve Waugh (captain), Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehmann, Martin Love, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Stuart MacGill, Glenn McGrath. 12th man: Andrew Bichel.

Bangladesh (from): Khaled Mahmud (captain), Javed Omar, Hannan Sarkar, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Khaled Mashud, Al Shahriar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tapash Baisya, Alok Kopali, Manjural Islam, Sanwar Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Anwar Hossain, Tareq Aziz.—AFP