Australian media decries 'bitter pill' after Bangladesh loss

Doom and gloom were the order of the day for Australian news media outlets, after the Australian national cricket team succumbed to Bangladesh in a test match for the first time in history on Wednesday. The defeat leaves Australia in a precarious position in the test cricket rankings, as a loss in Chittagong next week may see them plummet to 6th. Australian Captain Steve Smith in particular drew the ire of Australian newspapers, after he commented prior to the series that the team selection was made with a visit to India in four years time in mind. “The wisdom of his [Smith’s] comments have come into question after he became the first Australian captain to preside over a Test defeat to the Tigers, ranked a lowly ninth in the game's longest format,” said Daniel Cherny in Australian newspaper The Age. He also drew attention to the visitor’s abysmal record in the Indian subcontinent, describing their 12 defeats from 14 matches since 2011, with only a single victory against India six months ago, as “impossible to sugarcoat.” “Bangladesh are clearly no longer the easy beats they once were, especially at home. As Smith noted last week, they beat England in a Test last year. Even still, this 20-run loss is a bitter pill to swallow for a proud cricketing nation, one which only last year was the world's top-ranked Test nation, and one that will slip to No.6 if it loses the second Test next week in Chittagong,” Cherny said. Meanwhile, Ben Horne wrote in The Daily Telegraph that the loss was “a misery mitigated only by the fact Ashes foes England have just been humbled themselves by the West Indies.” “Australia fought hard for significant portions of a run chase that ended 20 agonising runs short, but a disastrous first innings batting failure will ensure the loss goes down as an abject failure for a team that had made advancements in India earlier in the year,” Horne said. Horne did admit that there were “glimmers of hope mixed amongst the carnage,” as he singled out the performance of centurion David Warner, as well that of tail-enders Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyons for praise. However, he draws attention to the fact that, despite Warner putting in “one of the performances of his career,” Australia’s batting record in Asia remains “worse than any country in world cricket.”