Cairns, Australia, July 28: Australia captain Steve Waugh led his side to a second successive innings defeat of Bangladesh today before launching a spirited defence of the Asian Test minnows. Bangladesh lost their inaugural two-Test series against Australia 2-0 and are without a win in their three-year, 21-match history.

''I thought their batting was a lot better than a lot of efforts by the West Indies in recent years and Pakistan in Sharjah,'' Waugh told a news conference.

Australia bowled Pakistan out for 59 and 53 in the second Test at Sharjah last October to win by an innings and 198 runs. Waugh won the toss in the second Test on Friday and sent Bangladesh in to bat and the tourists reached 155 for one, suffered a middle-order collapse before recovering to score 295.

They followed up with 163 as opener Hannan Sarkar top scored in both innings for Bangladesh with 76 and 55.

Australia smashed 556 for four declared in their first innings and won by an innings and 98 runs.

''To be none for 50 on that first morning, we expected to have three or four wickets at least,'' Waugh said. Bureau Report