Australia loses first Test to Bangladesh, captain Pat Cummins press conference discusses team changes, defends toss call, batting order, latest news

Australian captain Pat Cummins said it is clear the nation’s malfunctioning top order is not performing as required after a debacle in Darwin resulted in an unprecedented loss to Bangladesh and drove calls for change from former greats.

Cummins, who did not bowl in the second innings as Bangladesh cruised to a historic nine wicket triumph on Australian soil but has no concerns about his own fitness, said discussions as to a batting intervention will be held leading into Mackay.

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The Australian skipper said the loss to Bangladesh stung and conceded there was a concerning trend of the Australian batters struggling to post big partnerships, with opener Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne under pressure to hold their spots.

Cummins dismissed suggestions the Aussies had underestimated Bangladesh, pointing to the fact the hosts fielded a full-strength team, and also described the preparation for the series as “bang on”.

But an inability to post a decent first innings score on what was clearly a good pitch put Australia on the defensive after a promising start in which Weatherald and Travis Head reached 45 runs in 11 overs before the disaster unfolded.

“I think it’s a balance of, you know, ‘Is it one Test?’ (or) is it also a little bit of a trend as well?” Cummins said.

“So it’s (about) trying to work out, ‘Do you need to intervene now or do you let it play out?’. (What is) the way forward? I think that’s the question over the next couple of days.

“We’ll sit down and have a think – the selectors will have a think – (about) is there something there that’s going to take us forward, or is it something (that is) starting to become a trend that we think needs to be changed.”

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The Australians selected a squad of 13 for the Bangladesh series, with Josh Inglis the reserve batter and Scott Boland the other bowler, but a broader group of 19 players trained in Brisbane leading into the first Test of the 2026/2027 season.

Cummins said the batting group will work with head coach Andrew McDonald and batting assistant Michael Di Venuto leading into the Mackay Test as Australia seeks to ensure it does not suffer a series loss for the first time in four years.

“I think it’s always quite individual. Everyone goes about it slightly differently, so coaches will work with each player individually,” he said.

“But … I think it’s pretty clear it’s not quite functioning as well as we’d like as a group. So I’m sure the batters will get together and talk about it, maybe review some footage, review methods, their approaches to how they were this week. We need to make some changes to our style. We’ve got a week or so (until Mackay) and we had better do it pretty quickly.”

As his Bangladeshi counterpart Najmal Hossain Shanto was exchanging FaceTime calls with the nation’s Prime Minister, Cummins was quizzed across multiple outlets as to whether there would be any changes in the Australian team for Mackay.

“It is not ideal. We were not anywhere near our best this week, across both areas really,” he told SEN in a separate interview.

“First of all, you acknowledge we were nowhere near our best and we have got to get better. We have to go up another level.

“We have to bounce back in less than a week, so everyone has areas that they can improve. What is important is our next action and how we make those changes.”

Cummins has been criticised for the decision to bat first after winning the toss, with Bangladesh’s captain Shanto saying the Tigers would have bowled first if given the choice.

But the Aussie captain said he would “still do it again” in a pointed message as to where he feels the blame for the loss lies, noting the pitch was becoming harder to bat on during the fourth day as Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan Maraz ran amok.

“You are always weighing up the first innings versus the fourth innings and when you think it will be harder to bat,” he said.

“I thought with a bit of grass, it might be hard for the first hour, but it felt like a pretty good batting track, whereas it is hard to know what day four and five are going to do, but you feel like it might crack up and start to spin, and that is how it played out.”

Irrespective of the call, the Australian skipper said that an under-fire top order needed to find a way to bat longer, both to score runs but also to give the ageing attack time to recuperate, something that has also been an issue in previous summers.

“They (Bangladesh) played really well. I thought the day one wicket, (there was) a little bit (in it) early but obviously (we’ve) got to try and find a way to bat a little bit longer than we did, and then just couldn’t penetrate with the ball.”

“They outplayed us in all facets. I thought they were really patient and quite disciplined. Once we were behind, it was really hard to get back.

“You would hope as a team, you could bat longer than however long we batted for the Test – just over 100 overs.”

There were also queries as to whether Australia had prepared properly for the Test, with the squad coming together for match simulation leading in Brisbane as Bangladesh played – and was humbled – buy a Cricket Australia XI in Darwin.

But he said several players had spent weeks preparing in Brisbane leading into the Test and described the lead-in as “bang on” even if the result was clearly very far from that.

“I thought our preparation was really excellent,” he said.

“We spent six weeks or so up in Brisbane. We thought we pretty much got that bang on. So it’s hard to put your finger on.

“I just felt like we just didn’t get off to a great start, and kind of once you behind on a pretty good wicket against a pretty good side, it was kind of really hard to wrestle the momentum back.”

Aside from Green, who batted superbly in the second innings to put rest to any questions surrounding his spot, Cummins praised fellow fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, who became the ninth Australian to pass 300 Test wickets during the match.

“Josh, he hasn’t had a great run for injuries the last couple of years, but he’s one of the hardest workers and just showed his class on a wicket that didn’t have too much in it seam-wise, still picking up six really important wickets,” Cummins said.

“So he was fantastic. Then Greeny, I thought his tempo this innings showed how good he is. Just needed a couple of us to hang around with him, but he was fantastic.”