Bangladesh Australia, 2nd Test, Chittagong
Australia gather themselves for one last hurrah
Martin Williamson
April 14, 2006
Shahadat Hossain has Ricky Ponting nailed at Fatullah ... Australia will go all-out to ensure there is no possible upset at Chittagong © Getty Images
With all the enthusiasm of a teacher on the last day of a long term, Australia's Magical Mystery tour, which started last June in England, is nearing its end. By the time they leave Bangladesh in they will have played 17 Tests and 35 ODIs in ten months of almost non-stop cricket. No wonder that they were creaking at every seam at Fatullah.
Ricky Ponting will need to rally his side for one last effort. It might not be that easy. After guiding his side to an all-too-tight victory in the first Test, he made a candidly honest comment. "If you'd been in our dressing room and seen how fatigued and exhausted some of the players are I think everyone would be quite surprised," he told reporters. "The last thing we want now are guys going into the second Test match who are fatigued and come up with an injury that could put then out for a long period of time."
Australia have always shied away from resting players, and if they do then it will mark a break in policy in chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns' final match at the helm.
That fatigue has particularly taken a toll on the bowlers. Brett Lee was almost out on his feet at Fatullah - he admitted he was "running on fumes" - and Shame Warne was troubled by a shoulder injury. Both are likely to be rested, and that puts Mitchell Johnson, Dan Cullen and Nathan Bracken in the frame.
But Warne and Lee batted at Nos. 7 and 8, and losing both and replacing them with bowlers would weaken the tail too much. In that situation, Australia are likely to recall Andrew Symonds to strengthen the batting - and give a second spin option - and play either Bracken or Johnson. The Symonds option, allied to the fact that Chittagong favours seam more than spin, probably rules Cullen out of the reckoning.
Bangladesh, who left Fatullah disappointed with the result but delighted at their performance on the first three days, have one enforced change with Enamul Haque jr rated unlikely to shake off finger pains, and uncapped spinner Abdur Razzak has been brought in at short notice.
What they will look to improve on is their staying power. They appear to wilt as matches progress - which is natural given their lack of experience of four and five-day matches - and that remains a worry.
Bangladesh 1 Javed Omar, 2 Shahriar Nafees, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Aftab Ahmed, 7 Khaled Mashud (wk), 8 Mohammad Rafique, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Shahadat Hossain, 11 Enamul Haque jnr or Abdur Razzak.
Australia (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Mike Hussey, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Damien Martyn, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Jason Gillespie, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Stuart Clark, Stuart MacGill.
![[furrycat]](/data/avatars/m/6/6602.jpg?1213416722){kind=avatar}
