Bangladesh were bowled out for 54 in Darwin, five days before the first Test
Campbell Thompson had one first-class match behind him before this week. He took 8 for 25 as Bangladesh folded in 22 overs and lost the warm-up by an innings and 38 runs.
Aug 8, 2026
Bangladesh’s final rehearsal before the Test series in Australia lasted 22 overs. Cricket Australia XI finished the three-day warm-up at Marrara Oval on Saturday morning by bowling the tourists out for 54, a win by an innings and 38 runs, five days before the first Test starts in Darwin.
Eleven overs, eight wickets
Campbell Thompson did nearly all of the damage. The 22-year-old left-arm quick from South Australia, who had one first-class match to his name before this week, took 8 for 25 from 11 overs. He had removed Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque late on day two to leave Bangladesh 19 for 2, then came back on Saturday and took six of the remaining eight wickets in 17 overs of playing time.
He had the first five to fall. Shadman edged him, Mominul was bowled, Soumya Sarkar was caught by the captain Kurtis Patterson, Mushfiqur Rahim lost his stumps and Tanzid Hasan was trapped in front. Najmul Hossain Shanto followed, lbw for a duck, and Thompson ended the innings by knocking over Taskin Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain with successive deliveries. Add his first-innings 1 for 26 and he walked off with nine wickets for 51 runs in the match.
Corey Rocchiccioli took the two that got away from him. The off-spinner’s 2 for 6 from four overs barely registered next to his 6 for 83 in the first innings, but it gave him eight in the match as well.
Nobody passed 22
Tanzid top-scored with 22 from 41 balls. After that the innings reads 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 2, 2, 0, 0 and 0, with a single leg bye the only extra. Shanto, the captain, faced eight balls. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, unbeaten on 109 in the first innings, made 6 this time.
Bangladesh lost their last eight wickets for 35 runs and were finished before lunch. The last five of those went down for nine runs.
The first innings had suggested something different. Bangladesh were 194 for 9 on Thursday before Miraz’s century hauled them to 263, and their quicks then had Cricket Australia XI 1 for 2 inside three overs. Teague Wyllie’s 130 and Jake Doran’s 76 turned that into 355, and the 92-run lead ended up being more than enough.
Five days to the first Test
The first Test begins on 13 August at Marrara Stadium, which last staged one in 2004, and the second runs from 22 August at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay. Both count towards the World Test Championship. This is Bangladesh’s first Test tour of Australia since 2003, and the batting they take into it is the batting that just made 54 against a state second string.
What waits for them is harder again. Pat Cummins is back as captain after injury, with Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon alongside him and Mitchell Starc in the same attack. Shanto’s side flew in hoping this game would settle a top order that has been picked apart on tour after tour. It did the opposite.
One reading of Saturday morning is that it was a freak, a young quick having the session of his life on a pitch that gave him something. Bangladesh will want that to be the right one. Australia have had a good look at the alternative.