The Australia series is Bangladesh’s last assignment of the year, and they will be looking to finish off on a high.
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Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson, Chris Rogers and Ryan Harris have all announced their retirements from Test cricket, leaving them with a highly inexperienced side on tour.
“Another chapter is about to begin”, Marsh said.
Five of those seven Test wins have come against Zimbabwe. If Steven Smith did get crook, it would have been very tough to have anyone else captain the side but Voges.
“I haven’t seen a great deal of him to be quite honest”, Smith told the Cricket Australia website on Monday. Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain are also in the Bangladesh A squad touring India.
Mashrafe Mortaza’s captaincy has been the reason for rising expectations in the Bangladeshi cricketing circles, and in particular his backing of the pace attack.
The Australians then completed a crushing innings victory in the second Test in Chittagong, a match highlighted by Jason Gillespie’s famous double-century, but the wobbles of the first Test have not been forgotten by Mushfiqur, who was just 17 at the time.
The trio will miss the Bangladesh tour along with several other players due to retirements and injuries.
Confirming the news, national selector Rodney Marsh said that it would be a good opportunity for Bancroft and Fekete to kick off their Test careers and establish them as the core of the side, Sport24 reported.
Bancroft also made the India tour with Australia A, building on an outstanding Sheffield Shield season.
“Andrew bowled really well last summer and followed that up on the A tour”, Marsh said. “He can generate reverse swing and that ability could be extremely useful in the conditions we expect to encounter in Bangladesh”, Marsh said. O’Keefe, therefore, is quite certain to add to his participated Tests list, unlike Ahmed, who is yet to make his debut. He was the third leading Sheffield Shield run scorer last season with 896 at 47.15 and he too played well on the A tour of India.
The tour of England had been a “big learning curve” for the team which would now be “working our backsides off” to win every game and series they play, he said. He did not play any of the Tests, though, in seaming-friendly conditions in England. “Even though some of them have played worldwide cricket, they’re still very young in terms of the number of games they have played at the global level”, said Streak. We felt he bowled exceptionally well. Speaking to News Corp, he said at the time, “Enough of them might fall over and I might get a phone call or knock on the door but I think I’m still a fair way down the pecking order, which is fine by me”.
Two-test right-hander Joe Burns is another opening candidate, along with Queensland captain Usman Khawaja, who has been recalled for the first time in two years.
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Bancroft’s run drought concluded with a scratchy duck in the final, but he has since established himself as one of the brightest young stars in Australian cricket.
