CHITTAGONG - Nathan Lyon spun Australia to a series-levelling win over Bangladesh on Thursday with a 13-wicket match haul in the second and final Test.

Chasing 86 for victory on a deteriorating Chittagong pitch, the visitors lost their top three batsmen before completing a seven-wicket win in the final session of the fourth day. Glenn Maxwell, who hit the winning six to take his score to 25, and Peter Handscomb, on 16, helped Australia bounce back from their loss in Dhaka last week. Bangladesh had been on a high after their historic first Test win over Australia. But Lyon brought them back to earth with a bump.

The off-spinner, who received the man of the match award, set up the win for Steve Smith's side after returning career-best match figures of 13-154. Lyon claimed a third successive six-wicket haul to dismiss Bangladesh for 157 in their second innings. He took his series tally to 22 wickets, the most by an Australian bowler in a two-match contest. Opener David Warner also stood out with two successive centuries in the series including 123 in Australia's first innings that helped secure a crucial 72-run lead. "We played some good cricket at times. To restrict them to what we did in the first innings was great. There wasn't a great deal in the surface for Lyon, but he was remarkable," Smith said of Lyon's 7-94 that helped restrict Bangladesh to 305 in the first innings. "I think he took 22 wickets for the series so that was a really good effort... But credit to Bangladesh, they really made us fight throughout the series," he added.

The hosts had bowled out Australia for 377 in the first innings, preventing their visitors from adding a run Thursday morning to the overnight total and restricting their lead to 72. But Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim said his batsmen were not good enough after electing to bat first. "Credit to Australia. The wicket was pretty good to bat on, we missed out in the first innings. That's what cost us. We should've got 350 at least," said Mushfiqur. "Win or lose, there are a lot of areas of improvements. Our batsmen made things tough for themselves, hopefully we'll learn," he added.

Mushfiqur managed a top score of 31 off 103 balls in Bangladesh's second innings. But none of the other batsmen could cope with a pitch that brought joy to Lyon. Bangladesh started the day on a high, dismissing number 11 batsman Lyon in the second over of the day. But Lyon returned to pick up further wickets as Bangladesh slipped to 83-5 at lunch.

A 54-run sixth-wicket stand between Mushfiqur and Sabbir Rahman steadied the innings briefly but an unrelenting Lyon had Sabbir stumped for 24. Mushfiqur fell to fast bowler Pat Cummins after being caught behind, leaving his side in dire straits. Cummins and Steve O'Keefe, who combined with Lyon to wipe off the tail in the final session of play, took two wickets each, bowling Bangladesh out for 157 and leaving Australia requiring just 86 to win.

With meagre room for manoeuvre bowling in the fourth innings, Bangladesh had early success when Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Warner, who shared the man of the series award with Lyon, for eight. Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam then took the wickets of Steve Smith for 16 and Matt Renshaw for 22 to leave Australia at 48-3. But Handscomb and Maxwell then dug in and saw Australia home with their unbroken 39-run stand.

"We all know that we haven't had the best of success in the sub-continent. It was important for us to come here as a young group and stand up," said Lyon. Australia now travel to India where they will play five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches between September 17 to October 13.

 

 

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS: 305

AUSTRALIA 1ST INNINGS:

M Renshaw c Rahim b Mustafizur             4

D Warner c Imrul b Mustafizur   123

S Smith b Taijul  58

P Handscomb run out    82

G Maxwell c Rahim b Mehedi     38

H Cartwright c Soumya b Mehedi              18

M Wade lbw b Mustafizur            8

A Agar b Shakib 22

P Cummins lbw b Mehedi            4

S O'Keefe not out            8

N Lyon c Imrul b Mustafizur         0

EXTRAS: (b8, lb3, w1)     12

TOTAL: (all out; 119.5 overs)        377

FOW: 1-5, 2-98, 3-250, 4-298, 5-321, 6-342, 7-346, 8-364, 9-376, 10-377.

BOWLING: Mehedi 38-6-93-3, Mustafizur 20.5-2-84-4, Shakib 31-3-82-1, Taijul 21-1-78-1, Nasir 6-2-14-0, Mominul 2-0-6-0, Sabbir 1-0-9-0.

BANGLADESH 2ND INNINGS:

Tamim Iqbal st Wade b Lyon       12

Soumya c Renshaw b Cummins 9

Imrul Kayes c Maxwell b Lyon     15

Nasir Hossain c Smith b O'Keefe                5

Shakib Al c Warner b Lyon            2

Mushfiqur c Wade b Cummins   31

Sabbir st Wade b Lyon   24

Mominul c Cummins b Lyon        29

Mehedi Hasan not out   14

Taijul Islam b Lyon           4

Mustafizur Rahman b O'Keefe   0

EXTRAS: (b12)    12

TOTAL: (all out, 71.2 overs)          157

FOW: 1-11, 2-32, 3-37, 4-39, 5-43, 6-97, 7-129, 8-149, 9-156, 10-157.

BOWLING: Cummins 11-3-27-2, Lyon 33-11-60-6, O'Keefe 22.2-6-49-2, Agar 5-1-9-0.

AUSTRALIA 2ND INNINGS:

M Renshaw c Mushfiqur b Shakib             22

D Warner c Soumya b Mustafizur              8

S Smith c Mushfiqur b Taijul        16

P Handscomb not out    16

G Maxwell not out          25

EXTRAS:               0

TOTAL: (3 wickets, 15.3 overs)    87

FOW: 1-13, 2-44, 3-48.

BOWLING: Mustafizur 5-1-16-1, Shakib 6-1-35-1, Taijul 4-0-26-1, Nasir Hossain 0.3-0-10-0.

TOSS: Bangladesh

UMPIRES: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)

TV UMPIRE: Aleem Dar (PAK)

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (NZ)