Darwin (Australia), July 19: Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore praised the resilience of his bowlers against the formidable top-ranked Australians in the first cricket Test here today. The Test minnows showed plenty of fortitude to stick to their guns and bowl almost 118 overs at Steve Waugh's Australians, who amassed 407 for seven before Waugh declared after reaching his 31st Test hundred.
For long periods the Bangladeshi bowlers, led by teenage paceman Mashrafe Mortaza with 3-74 off 23 overs, toiled away trying to keep the lid on the Australian scoring. Test cricket's worst-performed team -- 18 defeats in 19 Tests -- gained praise from the Australian players for bowling a disciplined line and length and making them fight for runs on a slow-paced drop-in pitch and outfield.
"The bowlers did a pretty good job," said Whatmore, who only took charge of the Bangladeshis last month. "I felt that against other sides there was enough good balls and sustained effort to perhaps bowl another opposition out," he said.
"But we are playing against Australia, the number-one ranked team, and we've seen what they are capable of today, even though they had to sustain some fairly good pressure in terms of the way our guys bowled at them," added the Bangladesh coach. Bureau Report