Tom Morris<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe ICC will still need to tick off the assessment before the grading is formalised.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery good\u201d is the highest of four possible pitch gradings and is defined as providing \u201cgood carry, limited seam movement, and consistent bounce early in the match, allowing for a balanced contest between batters and bowlers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Australia v Bangladesh D2 T2 Highlights | 15:47<\/p>\n
And despite Australia wrapping up the Test inside two days, Josh Hazlewood believes the surface itself wasn\u2019t necessarily responsible for the rapid finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, the wicket was pretty good. I don\u2019t necessarily think it should have been a two-day game,\u201d Hazlewood told Fox Cricket\u2019s Adam Gilchrist post-match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was enough there for it. It probably quickened up today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a little bit of seam movement day one, which you expect in most Test matches, but once the shine went off the ball it didn\u2019t go a great deal – it felt from a bowler\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazlewood\u2019s assessment came despite 30 wickets falling across just 125 overs, with the Australian quick himself taking only one wicket across Bangladesh\u2019s two innings.<\/p>\n
Instead, Mitchell Starc was the chief destroyer, producing a remarkable 10-wicket match haul after taking 6-12 in the first innings and 4-39 in the second.<\/p>\n
MACKAY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 23: Mitchell Starc of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Taijul Islam of Bangladesh during day two of the Second Test Match in the series between Australia and Bangladesh at Great Barrier Reef Arena on August 23, 2026 in Mackay, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Bangladesh were bundled out for just 64 before managing only 95 in their second innings, with captain Najmul Hossain Shanto\u2019s 31 the highest individual score across the visitors\u2019 two innings.<\/p>\n
Australia weren\u2019t immune from the difficult batting conditions either.<\/p>\n
The hosts were dismissed for 210 in their only innings, with Cameron Green\u2019s 67, Steve Smith\u2019s 42 and Nathan Lyon\u2019s unbeaten 32 the only major contributions.<\/p>\n
Green was the only player from either side to reach 50 across the entire Test.<\/p>\n
Despite the remarkable frequency of wickets and the match failing to reach a third day, the surface is now on track to receive the highest possible grading.<\/p>\n
It comes less than a year after another two-day Test on Australian soil also received a \u201cvery good\u201d pitch rating.<\/p>\n
The opening Ashes Test at Perth Stadium lasted just two days after 32 wickets fell, including 19 on a chaotic opening day.<\/p>\n
Hussey backs under-fire star in batting | 02:48<\/p>\n
Travis Head\u2019s extraordinary 123 in Australia\u2019s second innings proved the difference, with his stunning knock helping guide the hosts to victory after he was promoted to the top of the order.<\/p>\n
Despite the rapid finish, the Perth Stadium surface was subsequently handed the highest possible grading.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe match referee\u2019s \u2018very good\u2019 rating justifies our belief Perth Stadium produced a pitch that provided a fair balance between bat and ball,\u201d Cricket Australia chief of cricket James Allsopp said at the time.<\/p>\n
Now Mackay appears set to receive the same assessment after another Australian Test that didn\u2019t make it beyond day two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thirty wickets. Just 125 overs. A wicket every 25 balls and a Test match finished inside two days.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-866444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866444","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=866444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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