{"id":853679,"date":"2026-08-13T10:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853679\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T10:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:52:21","slug":"test-cricket-quick-hits-steve-smiths-peanut-a-triple-reprieve-and-mitch-starcs-milestone-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853679\/","title":{"rendered":"Test cricket quick hits: Steve Smith’s ‘peanut’, a triple reprieve and Mitch Starc’s milestone moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Smith called a Bangladesh bowler a “peanut” for making an appeal, but he could probably have labelled a couple of his batting colleagues as such on a dire batting display for Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mitch Starc collected another accolade with yet another top order wicket for the Aussies<\/p>\n

As it happened: Bangladesh minnows humble Australia’s giants on day one in Darwin<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are the quick hits from day one of the first Test between Australia and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

1. Weatherald falls in front of hometown crowd\"A<\/p>\n

Weatherald was unable to impress in front of his home crowd. (Getty Images: Albert Perez\/CA)<\/p>\n

Local boy Jake Weatherald began the first Test under significant pressure, having clung onto his opening spot after struggling through his debut series against England.<\/p>\n

And there was significant support for the Northern Territorian in Darwin, with the crowd rising and falling as he attempted to get his innings going.<\/p>\n

But once again, Weatherald was unable to find his feet at Test level, eventually reaching and swiping and nicking off for an unconvincing 23 off 37 deliveries.<\/p>\n

It was Weatherald’s 10th sub-50 score from his 11 Test innings, and one that only raised more questions about his viability as a Test match opener<\/p>\n

Weatherald, the first Australian men’s Test cricketer born and raised in the Northern Territory and now the first Territorian to play Test cricket in Darwin, with three more opportunities to secure a spot on the plane to South Africa in October.<\/p>\n

2. Green’s pre-lunch brain explosion\"A<\/p>\n

Bangladesh was overjoyed to claim Green’s wicket with the final ball before lunch. (Getty Images: Albert Perez\/Cricket Australia)<\/p>\n

With Australia teetering at 3-61, the under-pressure Cam Green decided to take the game on.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Australian most in need of a score, the all-rounder began his innings with a pair of well-timed drives, before hooking Taskin Ahmed for a maximum over backward square leg.<\/p>\n

However, Green’s counterattack was short lived, with the big man playing one shot too many in the shadows of the first break.<\/p>\n

With what turned out to be the final ball of the morning session, Green all but gave his wicket away, meekly chipping one to a grateful Mushfiqur Rahim on the on-side.<\/p>\n

Australia headed to lunch at 4-74, Bangladesh couldn’t believe their luck, and Green, having come out with such purpose, trudged off for a run-a-ball 13.<\/p>\n

3. Smith’s triple reprieve<\/p>\n

So often the man for a crisis, Steve Smith is no stranger to standing tall as wickets tumble around him.<\/p>\n

But Australia’s idiosyncratic world beater was anything but convincing as he somehow managed to prod his way to lunch after coming to the crease at 2-52.<\/p>\n

Smith should have been out on 2, with his thick edge falling through the fingers of a stooping second slip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A matter of balls later, Smith was once again nicking towards the cordon \u2014 but this time, the ball flew through a gap between second slip and gully, with Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto having only just removed a man from behind the wicket.<\/p>\n

And it appeared that Smith’s luck was well and truly in when he survived a line-ball DRS review.<\/p>\n

With Smith swinging hard outside off, Bangladesh went up for caught behind with some confidence. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena was unmoved, and Shanto wasted no time in sending the decision upstairs.<\/p>\n

The technology, however, showed no conclusive evidence of an edge, with the ball passing perilously close to Smith’s blade but failing to make its mark on ultra edge.<\/p>\n

Bangladesh couldn’t believe it as Smith was handed his third reprieve of the morning.<\/p>\n

4. Smith talks Bangladesh out of a review, lands “peanut” jibe\"A<\/p>\n

Smith talked Bangladesh out of a review before late in the second session. (Getty Images: Robert Cianflone)<\/p>\n

Having burnt two reviews in the first session, Bangladesh had just one DRS Hail Mary to play with for the bulk of the Australian innings.<\/p>\n

Late in the second session, seamer Ebadot Hussein was tempted to break the glass for one that he never should have been.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His LBW shout against Smith was clearly far too high, but that didn’t stop the Bangladeshi brains trust gathering for a serious discussion in the middle.<\/p>\n

Smith couldn’t believe it.<\/p>\n

“Knee roll you reckon? It was up here you peanut!” Smith could be heard saying through the stump mic, gesturing to his hip area.<\/p>\n

“What game are you watching?”<\/p>\n

Smith’s derision was enough to talk Bangladesh out of the review, but his honesty didn’t end up counting for much \u2014 the Australian vice-captain eventually top-edging a short ball to be caught for 71.<\/p>\n

5. Starc makes history\u00a0\"A<\/p>\n

Australia’s Mitchell Starc added another record to his list. (Getty Images: Albert Perez\/CA)<\/p>\n

The records keep coming for Australia’s top-order destroyer, Mitchell Starc.<\/p>\n

Fresh from being named his country’s Test player of the year last Friday, the 36-year-old carved out another piece of history, becoming the most lethal left arm bowler in the history of the format.<\/p>\n

Starc procured a leading edge from opener Shadman Islam to claim the 434th wicket of his Test career, with Nathan Lyon making amends for an earlier dropped chance.<\/p>\n

Starc’s milestone scalp took him past former Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath.<\/p>\n

However, that was the only breakthrough of the day in what was a humbling start to the season for Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Smith called a Bangladesh bowler a “peanut” for making an appeal, but he could probably have labelled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,422588,5249,73708,85,231,1211],"class_list":["post-853679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-vs-bangladesh","tag-darwin","tag-quick-hits","tag-sports","tag-test","tag-test-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}