Two days, 750 balls: Mackay Test among shortest ever

5 Test matches completed inside two days in Australia – four of these coming in the last five seasons. The Test lasted only 750 balls – the second shortest in Australia in terms of balls bowled, only behind the 656-ball Test between Australia and South Africa at the MCG in 1931/32.

750 balls makes it the fourth shortest completed Test match in terms of balls bowled. The shortest remains the 642-ball affair between South Africa and India in Cape Town in 2024, followed by the above-mentioned MCG Test and 672-ball Test in Bridgetown in 1935 between West Indies and England.

Fewest balls in a completed Test

210 by Australia is the fourth lowest first innings total that ended in an innings win for the team. The last instance of a team scoring 210 or fewer that ended in an innings win was Australia’s 199/8 declared against New Zealand in Wellington in 1946.

Lowest totals resulting in an innings win

4 Bangladesh made 64 & 95, making it only the fourth instance of a team being bowled out for under 100 in both innings of a Test since 1960. The other instances: England (82 & 93) against New Zealand in Christchurch in 1984, Pakistan (59 & 53) against Australia in Sharjah in 2002, and Zimbabwe (59 & 99) against New Zealand in Harare in 2005.

Bangladesh made 159 runs in this Test, their lowest match aggregate in a Test, surpassing the 187 they made against West Indies in North Sound in 2018.

Starc’s new ball exploits

4 instances of Mitchell Starc picking a wicket off the first ball of a Test – the most by any bowler, surpassing Pedro Collins’ three. Overall, Starc has bagged nine wickets in the first over of a Test across 43 innings, eclipsing James Anderson’s eight in 75.

22 balls taken by Starc to complete his five-wicket haul in the first innings – the sixth quickest for a bowler. The quickest also belongs to him when he picked five wickets in 15 balls against West Indies in Kingston last year. Starc completed his five-wicket haul in 6.4 overs – the third earliest a bowler got to the milestone in an innings, only behind his own 4.3 overs against West Indies in Kingston last year and Stuart Broad’s 6.1 overs against Australia in Trent Bridge in 2015.

4 Ten-wicket match hauls for Starc – the second most for a left-arm seamer, only behind Wasim Akram’s five. Starc bagged his 10 wickets in just 20 overs, giving him a match strike rate of 12 balls per wicket – the fourth best among the 490 ten-wicket hauls and the best since 1913.

7/48 by Shoriful Islam is the third best innings figures for a Bangladesh bowler in Tests and the best by a seamer, surpassing 6/27 by Shahadat Hossain against South Africa in Mirpur in 2008. It is also the best figures by a visiting seamer in Australia since Curtly Ambrose’s 7/25 at the WACA in 1992/93.

Best innings figures for a Bangladesh bowler

4 Starc and Shoriful Islam became just the fourth pair of bowlers to bag six wickets on the opening day of a Test. The previous instances were Syd Barnes and Monty Noble at the MCG in 1902, Aubrey Faulkner and Colin Blythe in Headingley in 1907, and Frank Worrel and Bill Johnston in Adelaide in 1951.