CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh: Nathan Lyon spun Australia to a series-levelling win over Bangladesh on Thursday with a 13-wicket match haul in the second and final Test.
Chasing 86 for victory on a deteriorating Chittagong pitch, the visitors lost their top three batsmen before completing a seven-wicket win in the final session of the fourth day.
Glenn Maxwell, who hit the winning six to take his score to 25, and Peter Handscomb, on 16, helped Australia bounce back from their loss in Dhaka last week.
Bangladesh had been on a high after their historic first Test win over Australia. But Lyon brought them back to earth with a bump.
The off-spinner, who received the man of the match award, set up the win for Steve Smith’s side after returning career-best match figures of 13-154. Lyon claimed a third successive six-wicket haul to dismiss Bangladesh for 157 in their second innings. He took his series tally to 22 wickets, the most by an Australian bowler in a two-match contest.
Opener David Warner also stood out with two successive centuries in the series including 123 in Australia’s first innings that helped secure a crucial 72-run lead. “We played some good cricket at times. To restrict them to what we did in the first innings was great. There wasn’t a great deal in the surface for Lyon, but he was remarkable,” Smith said of Lyon’s 7-94 that helped restrict Bangladesh to 305 in the first innings.
“I think he took 22 wickets for the series so that was a really good effort... But credit to Bangladesh, they really made us fight throughout the series,” he added.
The hosts had bowled out Australia for 377 in the first innings, preventing their visitors from adding a run on Thursday morning to the overnight total and restricting their lead to 72.
But Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said his batsmen were not good enough after electing to bat first.
“Credit to Australia. The wicket was pretty good to bat on, we missed out in the first innings. That’s what cost us. We should’ve got 350 at least,” said Mushfiqur.
“Win or lose, there are a lot of areas of improvements. Our batsmen made things tough for themselves, hopefully we’ll learn,” he added.
Mushfiqur managed a top score of 31 off 103 balls in Bangladesh’s second innings. But none of the other batsmen could cope with a pitch that brought joy to Lyon.
Bangladesh started the day on a high, dismissing number 11 batsman Lyon in the second over of the day.
But Lyon returned to pick up further wickets as Bangladesh slipped to 83-5 at lunch.
“We all know that we haven’t had the best of success in the sub-continent. It was important for us to come here as a young group and stand up,” said Lyon.
Australia now travel to India where they will play five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches between September 17 to October 13. — AFP
Scoreboard
Bangladesh first innings 305Bangladesh first innings 305Australia 1st inningsM Renshaw c Rahim b Mustafizur 4D Warner c Imrul b Mustafizur 123S Smith b Taijul 58P Handscomb run out 82 G Maxwell c Rahim b Mehedi 38H Cartwright c Soumya b Mehedi 18M Wade lbw b Mustafizur 8A Agar b Shakib 22P Cummins lbw b Mehedi 4S O’Keefe not out 8N Lyon c Imrul b Mustafizur 0Extras (b8, lb3, w1) 12 Total (all out; 119.5 overs) 377Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-98, 3-250, 4-298, 5-321, 6-342, 7-346, 8-364, 9-376Bowling: Mehedi 38-6-93-3, Mustafizur 20.5-2-84-4, Shakib 31-3-82-1, Taijul 21-1-78-1, Nasir 6-2-14-0, Mominul 2-0-6-0, Sabbir 1-0-9-0Bangladesh 2nd inningsTamim Iqbal st Wade b Lyon 12Soumya Sarkar c Renshaw b Cummins 9Imrul Kayes c Maxwell b Lyon 15Nasir Hossain c Smith b O’Keefe 5Shakib Al hasan c Warner b Lyon 2Mushfiqur Rahim c Wade b Cummins 31Sabbir Rahman st Wade b Lyon 24Mominul Haque c Cummins b Lyon 29Mehedi Hasan not out 14Taijul Islam b Lyon 4Mustafizur Rahman b O’Keefe 0Extras (b12) 12Total (all out, 71.2 overs) 157Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-32, 3-37, 4-39, 5-43, 6-97, 7-129, 8-149, 9-156Bowling: Cummins 11-3-27-2, Lyon 33-11-60-6, O’Keefe 22.2-6-49-2, Agar 5-1-9-0Australia 2nd innings (target 86)M Renshaw c Mushfiqur b Shakib 22D Warner c Soumya b Mustafizur 8S Smith c Mushfiqur b Taijul 16P Handscomb not out 16G Maxwell not out 25Total (3 wickets, 15.3 overs) 87Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-44, 3-48Bowling: Mustafizur 5-1-16-1, Shakib 6-1-35-1, Taijul 4-0-26-1, Nasir Hossain 0.3-0-10-0.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
