DARWIN — Mehidy Hasan Miraz walked to the crease on Day 2 with Bangladesh’s first innings stabilised at 308 for six, a position that still warranted a healthy lead but not the kind that wins historic Test matches. By the time he finished, he had made 65 runs from 154 balls, the bottom of Bangladesh’s order had added 118 more runs behind him, and the total had climbed to 426. On Day 3, he returned to the field and, in the first session, took Steve Smith caught-and-bowled with a delivery Smith had reviewed and lost. The same cricketer who built the target then removed the one batsman who could have saved Australia from it.
Bangladesh ended Day 3 at Marrara Stadium in Darwin with Australia at 161 for four in their second innings, trailing by 67 runs. The Tigers need six more wickets. Australia need to bat two more days without losing six more of them — a task that requires both Cameron Green and Alex Carey, still at the crease at stumps on 43 and 19 respectively, to produce the most significant partnership of their careers against a bowling attack that has, through three days, kept every Australian batsman in doubt.
The day began with a piece of history. Josh Hazlewood’s 6-89 — the best bowling figures of the match for either side — included his 300th Test wicket, making him one of seven Australians to reach that mark. It came in a Bangladesh innings that ended for 426, 228 runs ahead of Australia’s 198 on Day 1. Hazlewood earned his milestone by bowling relentlessly into a lower-order partnership that lasted 118 runs and consumed nearly a session. Bangladesh’s last four wickets added those runs because Mehidy Hasan Miraz refused to treat his position as ceremonial.
Australia’s second innings unravelled in stages. Jake Weatherald lasted one ball, chopping a delivery from Hasan Mahmud onto his stumps for a duck. Travis Head played 17 before Mahmud had him too — the Bangladeshi pacer dismissing both openers in a match in which he has now taken eight wickets across both innings. Marnus Labuschagne reached 31 before missing a full delivery from Taijul Islam that, on a pitch that had by the afternoon session settled into something predictable, he had no grounds for missing.
Smith’s dismissal was the afternoon’s defining moment. The right-hander, who had made 71 in Australia’s first innings and was the obvious candidate to anchor the second, was caught-and-bowled by Mehidy for 44. He had reviewed the caught-behind decision before it was given. He lost the review and his wicket in the same over. At 161 for four, Green on 43 from 86 balls and Carey on 19 from 48, the day’s play ended without resolution.
The day’s other story belonged to Australia’s fielding. Cricket Australia’s match report counted five dropped catches across both innings, including two sky balls put down in the same Pat Cummins over. Green survived when an inside edge off Taskin Ahmed shaved the left stump without disturbing a bail. Those drops will be the subject of Australian cricket’s internal accounting long after the match ends, regardless of the final result.
This Test matters in a context that extends beyond five days in Darwin. Bangladesh whitewashed Australia in the ODI series in June, three games to nil in Dhaka. That result was absorbed by some as format-specific. A first Test win in Australia — a country Bangladesh had never beaten across 23 years of trying, dating to their sole previous Test visit in 2003 — would constitute something different in kind.
Hasan Mahmud, who took 6-55 in the first innings and then dismissed both Australian openers in the second, is 25 years old. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who batted with the precision of a middle-order anchor and then bowled with the intent of a match-winner, is 26. According to Dawn, this series arrives in the context of a Bangladesh side that has been reshaping its international cricket profile across formats throughout 2026, with the Test format now the remaining frontier.
What Green and Carey need to do is bat. Specifically: they need to bat until Australia have scored enough runs to give their lower order something to defend, on a pitch that is not deteriorating but is not offering them anything they can trust either. Bangladesh needs six wickets. Whether the gap between those two positions closes by Monday night is the only question left in Darwin.
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