Source : ABC NEWS
Australia is hosting Bangladesh in a rare Test series this August, as winter cricket hits the Top End.
The two teams will play two Tests, the first of which gets underway in Darwin on August 13 at Marrara Stadium.
The second starts on August 22 in Mackay, where Harrup Park will become the 12th ground to host a men’s Test match in Australia.
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It is the first time in 23 years that Bangladesh will tour Australia for a Test series.
Here’s everything you need to know.
When does Australia play Bangladesh?
The first Test gets underway on Thursday, August 13, with the first session starting at 10am ACST in Darwin, NT.
That means the start time is 10:30am AEST (Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania), 10:00am in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and 8:30am in Western Australia.
The second Test starts on Saturday, August 22, with the first ball again set to be bowled 10:00am AEST in Mackay, Queensland.
That is 10am in Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania, 10:30am in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and 8am in Western Australia.
Each Test is scheduled for five days.
Where are the Tests being played?
Australia played South Africa at Marrara Stadium last year in a T20 international. (Getty Images: Cricket Australia/Albert Perez)
August is not normally cricket season in Australia, but officials are taking advantage of the dry season in the north to take these matches to the tropics, with Darwin and Mackay hosting the Test matches.
Darwin’s Marrara Oval will host just its third ever men’s Test match and first since Sri Lanka visited in July 2004.
Australia have a 100 per cent winning record in Tests in Darwin, winning by an innings and 132 runs against Bangladesh in 2003, following that up with a 149-run victory against Sri Lanka the year after.
Australia has also played four ODIs in Darwin, all against Bangladesh and all resulting in emphatic victories.
In T20Is it’s a slightly different story though, with South Africa sharing the spoils across two matches at the venue last year.
Mackay’s Harrup Park has never hosted a men’s Test match before and will become the 12th venue in Australia to do so.
Harrup Park in Mackay will become the 12th ground to host a men’s Test match in Australia. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
The ground did host a youth Test match last year between Australia and India’s under 19 sides, a low-scoring match won by India by seven wickets.
There have been three ODIs at the ground, two of them involving Australia. Again, South Africa were the opponents in 2025 and, again, the spoils were shared.
The only other ODI took place during the 1992 Cricket World Cup between India and Sri Lanka.
Given that Mackay averages 313.2 millimetres of rain in February — the wettest month on average across the year for the city — it’s perhaps not a surprise that rain meant that the match was abandoned after just two balls were bowled.
That was even after a helicopter hovered above the pitch in an attempt to dry it out.
Australia’s women have played three ODIs (in 2021) and two T20Is (in 2024) at the ground, winning all but one game.
Who is playing?
Pat Cummins returns for Australia’s first Test of the season. (Getty Images: Cricket Australia/Mark Brake)
Australia has named a strong squad, with front-line bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all returning following their injury lay offs.
Such impressive bowling depth has seen Michael Neser miss out, the luckless Queenslander then suffering a hamstring injury in any case that will keep him out of contention.
It is, essentially, a full strength team, something Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, is pretty impressed about.
“I personally liked the fact that they have chosen their full-strength team,” he said earlier this month in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo.
“They are not taking us lightly. I think our team has earned this respect.”
Najmul Hossain Shanto will lead Bangladesh in Australia. (Getty Images: Sameera Peiris)
Disappointingly for Bangladesh, they come into the series missing two key weapons in lightning-fast seamer Nahid Rana, who has been ruled out due to a left-side strain, and Shoriful Islam, who has a hurt hamstring.
Then, key spin bowler Taijul Islam suffered a blow to the hand in the warm up game and did not bowl at all in the second innings.
The 23-year-old Rana is one of the form bowlers in world cricket, capable of delivering the ball at speeds in excess of 150km/h. He has already taken 44 wickets in international cricket this year — the most by any bowler — at an average of 18.31.
On a positive note, Litton Das recovered from a calf injury he picked up during the home ODI series against Australia in June.
Batting is a problem for the tourists though — chief selector Habibul Bashar said the selection of 33-year-old lefty Soumya Sarkar was as a result of “a bit of desperation”. Hardly a ringing endorsement for a man who has not played Test cricket since 2021.
| Australia Squad | Bangladesh Squad |
|---|---|
| Pat Cummins (c) | Najmul Hossain Shanto (c) |
| Scott Boland | Amite Hasan (wk) |
| Alex Carey (wk) | Ebadot Hossain |
| Cameron Green | Hasan Mahmud |
| Josh Hazlewood | Jaker Ali (wk) |
| Travis Head | Khaled Ahmed |
| Josh Inglis (wk) | Litton Das (wk) |
| Marnus Labuschagne | Mehidy Hasan Miraz |
| Nathan Lyon | Mominul Haque |
| Steven Smith | Musfik Hasan |
| Mitchell Starc | Mushfiqur Rahim (wk) |
| Jake Weatherald | Shadman Islam |
| Beau Webster | Soumya Sarkar |
| Taijul Islam | |
| Tanzid Hasan | |
| Taskin Ahmed |
Jake Weatherald, the first Northern Territorian to play a Test for Australia, was watching on in the crowd the last time the Australians played in Darwin.
He is a great chance to start on his home ground after a solid spell in the County Championship with Leicestershire, where he scored 483 runs at an average of 60.37, including scoring an unbeaten 104 against Glamorgan in Cardiff.
What form are Bangladesh in?
Bangladesh have only lost one of their last five Test matches. (Getty Images: Sameera Peiris)
Bangladesh come into this Test series off the back of a pretty decent run, having lost just one of their last five matches in the format.
Two thumping victories at home against Ireland in November 2025 were backed up by a hugely impressive 2-0 series victory against Pakistan in May this year.
That wasn’t bad.
Now for the things that have been pretty poor.
A one off Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club resulted in a calamitous defeat by an innings and 85 runs.
If that was bad, then the absolute thrashing the Cricket Australia XI delivered last week was even worse, the tourists bowled out for just 54 in their second dig as the CA XI won by an innings and 38 runs.
If it wasn’t for Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s unbeaten century in the first innings, rescuing his side from 6-110, who knows how bad the score would have looked as Corey Rocchiccioli took 6-83 in that first innings and Campbell Thompson took 8-25 in the second.
What is Bangladesh’s record against Australia?
Jason Gillespie’s stunning double century will go down in the annals as one of the best ever night watchman displays. (Getty Images: Hamish Blair)
Bangladesh have only ever played against Australia six times in their Test history — they’ve only played fewer Tests against Ireland (3) and Afghanistan (2) which, given Bangladesh have been a Test-playing nation since 2000, is a damning inditement on Australia’s commitment to playing the minnows.
Somewhat surprisingly then, Bangladesh does have a Test victory against Australia to their name and, it was their most recent series in 2017.
Bangladesh claimed a stunning 20-run victory in Mirpur, with Shakib Al Hasan claiming player of the match honours after scoring a 133-ball 84 in the first innings and taking 5-85 with the ball in the final innings.
Australia got revenge in Chattogram, winning by seven wickets as Nathan Lyon took 7-94 and 6-60, while David Warner scored a brilliant, six-hour, 234-ball 123 in the first innings.
Australia’s best ever batting performance in Chattogram though came 11 years before that, when night watchman Jason Gillespie scored a stunning unbeaten 201 to help Australia claim victory by an innings and 80 runs.
The first Test of that series in Fatullah had been won by the far more tense margin of three wickets, with Ricky Ponting’s grinding 118 not out helping the Aussies over the line.
Bangladesh have never beaten Australia in Australia though, losing both their 2003 Tests by over an innings, in matches that took place in Darwin and Cairns.
