Bangladesh to host the Australians for two Tests in October, the first series between the two nations since 2006
Australia will head to Bangladesh in October for their first Test series against the Tigers in over nine years.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board and Cricket Australia announced today that the Aussies will play a three-day tour match in Fatullah from October 3 before Tests in the coastal city of Chittagong (October 9-13) and the capital Dhaka (October 17-21).
It will be just the third Test series between the two nations and the first since Australia’s 2-0 victory in Bangladesh in 2006.
The series has been squeezed in between the one-day component of Australia’s tour of the UK, which finishes on September 13, and the Commonwealth Bank Test series against New Zealand, which starts in Brisbane on November 5.
The short Test history between the two nations started in the Australian winter of 2003 when the home side recorded comprehensive innings victories in Darwin and Cairns.
Current Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann and then-skipper Steve Waugh scored centuries in both matches, while leg-spinner Stuart MacGill finished with 17 wickets to be named man-of-the-series.
Lehmann scored two centuries against Bangladesh in 2003 // Getty
The first Test of the 2006 series in Fatullah – on the southern outskirts of Dhaka – featured a memorable comeback from the tourists, who at one stage were 6-93 in reply to Bangladesh’s massive first-innings total of 427.
A brilliant innings of 144 from Adam Gilchrist – who was the only batsman to score more than 30 – pushed Australia to a total of 269, a deficit of 158, before the home side were routed for just 148 in their second innings.
An unbeaten century from skipper Ricky Ponting guided Australia to the victory target of 307 with three wickets in hand, after some nervous moments when they had at one stage been 6-231.
Gilchrist made a brilliant century in Fatullah nine years ago // Getty
“History won’t show how difficult that game was,” Gilchrist would later recall.
“I got one of the best hundreds I have ever scored, which will forever and a day live in an unnoticed packet because it was Bangladesh in Bangladesh.”
There was more history made in the second Test in Chittagong when Jason Gillespie became the first nightwatchman in Test history to score a double-century.
Australia’s make-shift No.3 finished unbeaten on 201 as he and Michael Hussey (182) guided the tourists to victory by an innings and 180 runs, as Shane Warne and MacGill took 15 wickets between them.
Gillespie celebrates his historic double-century in Chittagong // Getty
Bangladesh have won just seven of 93 matches since their first Test 15 years ago, with five wins coming against Zimbabwe and two against West Indies.
They have beaten Australia just once in 19 completed one-day internationals between the two sides, recording a famous win in Cardiff in 2005.
Long considered minnows on the international stage, the Tigers have shown signs of rapid improvement in 2015 in what has been a landmark year for cricket in Bangladesh.
Having reached the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup, they have won seven of nine ODIs since then; three against Pakistan and two apiece against India and South Africa.
Qantas Tour of Bangladesh
Oct 3-5: Warm-up match v BCB XI, Fatullah (Khan Shaheb Ali Osmani Stadium)
Oct 9-13: First Test v Bangladesh, Chittagong (Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium)
Oct 17-21: Second Test v Bangladesh, Dhaka (Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium)
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