Ctg Test tit-bit
Sports Reporter, Chittagong
Mustafizur back with bang
Mustafizur Rahman became the first Bangladesh pace bowler to take four wickets against Australia when he returned figures of four for 84 in the first innings. Only Jason Gillespie had better figures than Mustafizur in the bilateral series between the two sides amongst the pacers. Gillespie had figures of four for 38 in the Test held between the two sides in 2003 in Darwin and he had overall match figures of seven wickets in two innings. Mustafizur ended up with five wickets eventually. Normally spinner dominated the series between the two sides with Stuart McGill taking the highest eight wickets in an innings. Lyon took seven wickets in the first innings of second Test. Shakib and Mohammad Rafique took five wickets in an innings.
Lyons record galore
Lyon sliced Bangladeshs batting line up on day four in a gem of spin bowling and in doing so, he rewrote the record, he also scripted the record. He eclipsed a 130-year old record in second Test when he claimed his third wicket in the innings and took his series tally to 19. In the process, he went past JJ Ferris mark from the two-Test 1887 Ashes series, where he snared 18 scalps in his the first two matches of his international career. He finally ended up with six for 60 in the second innings and 22 in the series, taking the top slot of Australia by far distance. The series tally of 22 is only second to Rangana Heraths 23 in two-match Test series. The record caps off a memorable tour for Australias most prolific finger-spinner, who took his 250th Test scalp in the first Test and has gone past Baggy Green champions Richie Benaud and Jason Gillespie on the all-time wicket-takers list. It also marked Lyons second 10-wicket haul in Tests, and the first since he took 12 against India at the Adelaide Oval in 2014 to orchestrate a memorable, and emotion-charged, Australian victory that came in the wake of the Phillip Hughes tragedy, making him the second Australian finger spinner to do so. The last Australian off-spinner to collect two 10-wicket hauls in Test cricket was Hugh Trumble, who reached that milestone in 1902 with back-to-back 10-fors in that years Ashes.
A near altercation
Lyon not only scripted some records on the day, but also sledged in such intensity that it didnt go well with Bangladesh batsman. He sledged Shakib Al Hasan continuously once he came to the crease. Shakib however was out on 2 and then Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman faced the heat of a prolonged sledging. The Bangladesh at one point was such angry and disturbed that he complained to umpire and Lyon was relentless that forced Mushfiqur to show his bat. Probably a fine is waiting for both of the duo.
Sabbirs unique record
Sabbir Rahman became the first Bangladeshi batsman to be stumped out in both of the innings in a Test. Both times Nathan Lyon was the killer. But the nature of the dismissal however was different--in the first innings he tried to pull and in the second innings he made an injudicious decision of charging Lyon when the team was in danger. Sabbir was the 20th batsman in the history to be stumped out in both innings, a record unveiled by the then England captain Alan Hornbi against Australia in Old Trafford in 1884. West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach was the latest victim when he was out against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2015 before Sabbir.
