Bangladesh Push Australia to the Brink in Darwin Test After Day Three
Australia closed day three of the first Test against Bangladesh on 161-4 in their second innings, still trailing by 67 runs with six wickets in hand at Marrara Stadium in Darwin. The match, scheduled from 13 to 17 August 2026, is the first of a two-Test series between the two sides. BBC Sport
Bangladesh's position of strength was built on a first innings of 426. Tanzid Hasan, the young opener, scored 101 — his maiden Test century — while captain Najmul Hossain Shanto made 84 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz ground out 65 from 154 balls to shepherd the lower order. Fox Sports On day three, Bangladesh added 75 runs to their overnight total of 351-6 to push the score past 400. BBC Sport
Australia's reply collapsed to 198 all out. Steve Smith top-scored with 71, but fast bowler Hasan Mahmud ripped through the lineup with a career-best 6-55 — a return that placed him at the centre of Bangladesh's finest away performance in years. Josh Hazlewood's 6-89 in Bangladesh's first innings brought him his 300th Test wicket, a personal milestone that offered little comfort on a difficult day for the hosts. BBC Sport
The follow-on — where a team is made to bat again immediately after falling well short of the opponent's first-innings total — was enforced, and Australia's second innings quickly ran into trouble. Hasan Mahmud struck twice in similar fashion: Jake Weatherald was bowled for a duck and Travis Head for 17, both dragging the ball onto their own stumps. Marnus Labuschagne fell to spinner Taijul Islam for 31. Then came the moment Bangladesh wanted. Miraz, already the architect of the first-innings fight with the bat, bowled Smith with a delivery the Australian chipped straight back to the bowler — a leading edge that ended a stubborn 88-ball 44 and left Australia 122-4. BBC Sport
Cameron Green, unbeaten on 43, and Alex Carey, on 19, saw out the remainder of the day. They resume on day four with Australia still 67 behind and needing to overtake Bangladesh's first-innings total simply to set a target, let alone save the match. BBC Sport
Australia have never lost a home Test to Bangladesh. Their only defeat to the Tigers in six previous meetings came at Mirpur in 2017. Shanto, the visiting captain, praised his team's character over the first two to three days of the Test. For Bangladesh, who have rarely competed this hard on Australian soil, the opportunity is real and the remaining sessions will define whether this becomes a result for the history books. BBC Sport
