DARWIN: Spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz took the key wicket of Steve Smith to reduce Australia to 161-4 after the third day of the first Test in Darwin on Saturday and move Bangladesh closer to a historic upset.

At stumps, Australia trailed by 67 runs in their second innings, with Cameron Green on 43 and Alex Carey 19.

After being dismissed for 426 shortly after lunch, Bangladesh seamer Hasan Mahmud stunned Australia when he claimed both openers cheaply.

Hasan, who took a career-best 6-55 in the first innings, bowled Jake Weatherald (0) and Travis Head (17) in identical fashion, both chopping on to their stumps.

On a good batting strip, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith initially steadied the ship.

Labuschagne, who has been out of form and seen his place in the team increasingly come into question, eased to 31 before playing over the top of a straight ball from left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and being bowled.

Smith, so often Australia’s saviour, batted sensibly but with the score on 122 he got a leading edge to off-spinner Mehidy and chipped it straight back to the bowler, gone for 44.

“The way we showed character and the way we played for the last two or three days was outstanding,” visiting captain Najmul Hossain told Fox Sports.

“We are taking it session by session, focusing on the process and not the outcome.”

Earlier, Mehidy did the damage with the bat, scoring a valuable half-century in Bangladesh’s first innings.

After Bangladesh were well beaten by a Cricket Australia XI in their only warm-up, many expected this Test to be an easy Australia victory.

But the unfancied tourists bowled the hosts out for 198 on the first day and then showed great dedication with the bat to keep the home side in the field for 138 overs.

Mehidy shielded the lower order brilliantly in the morning session to frustrate a tiring Australian attack.

When he was finally dismissed for 65 by Josh Hazlewood shortly after lunch, he had helped put his team into a strong position halfway through the match.

Bangladesh are attempting to win a Test in Australia for the first time, at the third attempt.

“It was pretty hard work out there on that track,” Hazlewood told Fox.

“Bangladesh dug in nice and tough and it was tough to get wickets out there.”

After Bangladesh resumed the day on 351-6, fast bowler Hazlewood took two wickets in the first hour to give the hosts hope of wrapping up the tail relatively quickly.

But Mehidy’s outstanding batting allowed Bangladesh to defy the Australian bowlers on a typically hot and humid Darwin morning.

They were helped by some poor Australian catching, including an almost inexplicable miss by Smith, who got under a mistimed pull from Taskin Ahmed in the deep but dropped the simplest of chances.

After defying the Australians for over an hour in the final session Friday, Hasan lasted just four overs of the first session on Saturday before being trapped leg before by Hazlewood, adding one run to his overnight score of 13.

Taijul made a breezy 17 before becoming Hazlewood’s 299th wicket in Tests when he guided a ball straight to Cameron Green at gully.

With Mehidy shielding Taskin, Bangladesh pushed the lead past 200 and kept the Australian bowlers toiling for another two hours.

Hazlewood, the pick of the attack with 6-89, reached 300 wickets in Tests when he had Mehidy caught behind by Carey to leave Bangladesh 418-9.

He got his 301st when Number 11 Ebadot Hossain fell the same way for seven.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 198 (S. Smith 71; Hasan Mahmud 6-55)

BANGLADESH (1st Innings, overnight 351-6):

Shadman Islam c Lyon b Starc20

Tanzid Hasan c Starc b Lyon101

Mominul Haque c Carey b Hazlewood49

Najmul Hossain c Smith b Hazlewood84

Mushfiqur Rahim c Smith b Cummins36

Litton Das c Smith b Starc0

Mehidy Hasan c Carey b Hazlewood65

Hasan Mahmud lbw b Hazlewood14

Taijul Islam c Green b Hazlewood17

Taskin Ahmed not out14

Ebadot Hossain c Carey b Hazlewood7

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-6, NB-6, W-1)19

TOTAL (all out, 138 overs)426

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Shadman), 2-138 (Mominul), 3-231 (Tanzid), 4-297 (Najmul), 5-306 (Litton), 6-308 (Mushfiqur), 7-354 (Hasan), 8-372 (Taijul), 9-418 (Mehidy)

BOWLING: Starc 26-3-79-2 (2nb), Hazlewood 28-3-89-6 (3nb), Green 10-2-34-0, Cummins 27-4-75-1 (1nb, 1w), Lyon 31-4-102-1, Webster 10-1-28-0, Head 2-0-3-0, Labuschagne 4-1-4-0

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings):

T. Head b Hasan17

J. Weatherald b Hasan0

M. Labuschagne b Taijul31

S. Smith c&b Mehidy44

C. Green not out43

A. Carey not out19

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-3)7

TOTAL (for four wickets, 53 overs)161

STILL TO BAT: B. Webster, P. Cummins, M. Starc, N. Lyon, J. Hazlewood

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Weatherald), 2-37 (Head), 3-73 (Labuschagne), 4-122 (Smith)

BOWLING: Taskin 12-3-38-0 (2nb), Hasan 11-2-33-2, Hossain 8-0-38-0 (1nb), Taijul 9-0-28-1, Mehidy 13-4-20-1

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026