Starc strikes early again as Australian tighten grip on Mackay Test

Updated August 23, 2026 — 12:34pm,first published 11:30am

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Mackay: Australia will be hoping to make quick work of the Bangladeshi batting order after lunch, with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins making major top order inroads to leave their rivals reeling at 3-39.

Australia leads the Test match by 107 runs, with Starc again struck at the start of the Bangladesh innings, his two early wickets taking the life out of the visitor’s hopes of mustering a comeback.

Unlike Saturday, when he took a wicket with the first ball of the Test match, Starc was driven to the boundary by Tanzid Hasan on the first ball of their second dig. But the veteran quick did cause carnage in his second over.

First, he caught Shadman Islam high on the bat with a sharp, straightening delivery that Marnus Labuschagne pouched, diving forward from point. Next ball, the left-arm spearhead was on a hat-trick for the second time this Test, as Mominul Haque shouldered arms to a ball that nipped back and knocked out his off stump, to leave Bangladesh in strife at 2-5.

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When the score advanced to 24, Cummins got in on the act, drawing a rash pull shot from Hasan which caught a top edge and flew to Starc at fine leg for a comfortable catch.

While skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto has offered some fight – resting at lunch unbeaten on 23 from 24 balls, including consecutive boundaries off Starc with lavish drives – Bangladesh still find themselves in a battle to make Australia bat again.

Earlier, it took a toe-crushing yorker from Shoriful Islam to end Cameron Green’s valiant innings with the bat, trapped in front on 67. The wicket made the left-arm seam bowler Bangladesh’s first quick to claim seven wickets in a Test innings (7-48).

That milestone followed his nation’s first Test win on Australian soil in the first clash in Darwin, a game he missed while recovering from injury.

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Green looked composed throughout his innings until receiving the Shoriful peach. He played fluently until stumps on day one as wickets fell around him during a dramatic collapse of 5-30 from Steve Smith’s dismissal for 42.

On Sunday morning, the 27-year-old all-rounder appeared on track to back-up his second innings 104 in the first Test in Darwin with a fourth career ton. He played one powerful cut shot and another elegant off-drive for boundaries inside the first three overs of day two at Great Barrier Reef Arena.

When Green fell, Nathan Lyon ensured Australia moved beyond 200 – a well-timed on drive to the fence, and pull shot over it, featuring in his unbeaten 32 – before Josh Hazlewood was out, caught for six, attempting to take on spinner Taijul Islam, ending Australia’s stand at 210.

There were 18 wickets to fall on day one, Starc setting the tone by sealing his five-wicket haul after just 43-minutes, finishing with figures of 6-12 as the visitors struggled to contend with the extra bounce and lively green pitch.

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Despite the carnage, Starc said on Saturday he had no issues with the pitch.

“People will sit there and go ‘[there were] 18 wickets, it’s a bad wicket’. I think it’s a very good day-one wicket, I think it’s probably played very similar to a Gabba wicket – you see a little bit of tennis-ball bounce early at the Gabba, and likewise today,” Starc said.

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“It was a pretty helter-skelter day of cricket, but I’d say some good bowling led to 18 wickets, as opposed to the wicket.”

Should Starc and his fellow quicks roll Bangladesh in similar fashion on Sunday, there will be no further chances for Labuschagne, Beau Webster or Matt Renshaw to push their case for inclusion in the forthcoming series in South Africa.

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While Renshaw (8) would be expected to get another opportunity, having only just been brought into the side to replace axed opener Jake Weatherald, both Labuschagne and Webster have struggled for a more prolonged period.

Webster, to his credit, had not put a foot wrong in his career until this two-Test series. However, he has managed just 17 runs across three knocks – including a first innings duck in Mackay.

Labuschagne’s long-term struggles, meanwhile, have been well-documented – failing to score a century since July 2023, while averaging just 29.69 since the start of that year following his cheap dismissal for four on Saturday.

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Nick Wright covers sport for Brisbane Times.

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