After losing two matches, Australia looking for a way to turn around the series. Aussie skipper Matthew Wade hopes they can at least do the right thing in the fight to save the series.
In the space of 48 hours, Bangladesh have put themselves within touching distance of their first series win over Australia in any format. Bangladesh have exploited the visitors’ weakness on slow, gripping wickets expertly and shown enough ticker with the bat to overcome what remains a strong Australia bowling attack that has been let down by the batters with the continuing exception of Mitchell Marsh. Matthew Wade however cautioned his side to fix the batting issue ahead of the crucial third match in which a defeat would cost them the series. And a defeat at the same time would pose a threat to them to be whitewashed in the series.
“Unfortunately we struggled with the bat in the last four overs in the second game which was very disappointing. We were in a good position to get 130s-140s, a good score on this track,” Wade said.
“Their (Bangladesh) quicks took pace off well, and we'll look to do better there. The bowlers from both teams have been terrific, we are happy how they are going. Agar was terrific again. Our bowling is definitely not the problem. We've had a game (first match) where the top wasn't great, and this time (second game) our bottom half with the bat wasn't. Need to fix the issue going into the third match.”
Australia talk about this being a valuable experience for players to be exposed to conditions they would not see back home, but for some the lessons are taking time to be absorbed. There has been enough evidence over the matches in West Indies and now Bangladesh that being successful in the BBL is not easily translated to the top level.
There was some resentment in the Bangladesh camp over the impact of the strict Covid-19 protocols on player availability for this series, but if that has filtered down to the dressing room they have channeled any frustrations well. Their coach Russell Domingo made a few pointed remarks about the scarcity of meetings between these two teams - securing a series victory with two games to spare would be a strong statement.
Bangladesh in contrast are high on confidence, considering the way they sailed home in the last two matches.
