Bengalis Enter Waugh Zone

The chief question before any sporting contest is usually a simple one: who will win? When Australia play Bangladesh at cricket that is pretty much a foregone conclusion. Which is why all intrigue yesterday centred on Steve Waugh. Would the hard man go soft on cricket's humblest whipping boys? Or would he grind them into the sunbaked Northern Territory dirt?

The answer was soon clear. Waugh, sensing flimsy opposition liable to crumple, won the toss and bowled. The rest, it seemed certain, was history.

Or at least it was supposed to be. This inaugural Test in Darwin between Australia, world champions, and Bangladesh, world laughing stock, promised a parade of milestones. Shortest match. Highest total. Heftiest thrashing.

Eventually it was Bangladesh who made history, becoming the first team in recent memory to capitulate for under 100 yet still be reckoned, by general consensus, to have had a reasonable sort of day.

That was thanks mainly to their lively young seamers, Mashrafe Mortaza and Tapash Baisya, for limiting Australia's openers to 2.69 an over. Matthew Hayden bottom-edged an ambitious pull and Justin Langer endured 21 scoreless balls. Only Darren Lehmann, nudging and late-cutting deftly for 51 not out, looked entirely confident. It could have been worse.

Yet it could also, as Bangladesh's coach Dav Whatmore grumbled, have been so much better.

Before the match Whatmore lamented his batsmen's tendency to do "naughty things" when well set. Here, however, it was not so much lack of application but lack of familiarity with raw speed that hurt them.

Brett Lee, approaching his fastest and fullest, uncoiled two sizzling inswingers in two overs to clean-bowl Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Al-Sahariar. Mohammad Ashraful strolled to 23 before indulging in one of those recklessly naughty hook shots off Glenn McGrath.

The spectators - a half-capacity crowd of 6,000 - looked on in a disbelieving hush, perhaps because they were seeing their first Test, perhaps because they were being served only mid-strength beer.

When Bangladesh's last four wickets disappeared in 20 balls, sceptics wondered whether the match might end in one day. Langer and Lehmann, chancing nothing in an unbroken 78-run stand, showed every intention of batting for the next two.