After a 23-year wait for an invitation to play a Test in Australia, Bangladesh seized the opportunity to make history, dominating the match from the opening ball to secure their first-ever victory on Australian soil. The decisive final act was orchestrated by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who claimed his 15th five-wicket haul in the format, finishing with 5 for 66. His performance on the fourth day effectively dismantled Australia's lower order and cemented a nine-wicket win for the visitors.
Coming into the fourth day, Australia still held hope of a comeback with six second-innings wickets in hand, including Cameron Green. While Green reached a maiden home Test century of 104, he was eventually bowled by Hasan Mahmud, who finished the match with impressive figures of 9 for 111. Mehidy had earlier set the stage by dismissing Alex Carey and Beau Webster with precise deliveries. Carey was caught behind after pushing forward, while Webster was clean-bowled. Shortly after, Pat Cummins fell to a catch at forward short leg off Mehidy's bowling, and Taskin Ahmed removed Mitchell Starc to break a dangerous 43-run partnership.
The match concluded when Mehidy trapped Nathan Lyon lbw, leaving Bangladesh a modest target of 57 runs to chase. Although Tanzid Hasan Tamim departed for a duck, Mominul Haque and Shadman Islam comfortably guided the team to victory in front of a celebratory crowd of Bangladeshi supporters in Darwin. This result silenced doubts regarding Bangladesh's competitiveness, which had been raised following their poor showing against a Cricket Australia XI just one week prior.
The final scorecard reflects the total team effort: Australia posted 198 and 284 in their two innings, while Bangladesh responded with 426 in their first innings—highlighted by centuries and strong contributions from Tanzid Hasan Tamim (101), Najmul Hossain Shanto (84), and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (65)—before reaching their target of 57/1. Josh Hazlewood had previously starred for Australia with 6 for 89 in the first innings, but it was not enough to prevent Bangladesh from entering the history books.
Twenty-three years is a long time to wait for an invitation.
Those strikes left only the fast bowlers to accompany Green.
