Australia to arrive tonight
The Australian cricket team will arrive in Dhaka tonight for a two-Test tour of Bangladesh that has been two years in the making, and which was in serious trouble till only about two weeks ago.
It was only on August 3 that a long-standing pay dispute between Cricket Australia and the Australia Cricketers Association was resolved, allowing the tour to go ahead as planned. This was after Australia had cancelled an earlier tour of Bangladesh in 2015 due to security reasons.
But the arrival of a 15-man squad tonight will be the signal for cricket to take centre-stage, if weather permits. The incessant rainfall has already plunged the venue of Australia's only two-day practice match starting on August 22 into uncertainty as the scheduled venue in Fatullah remains waterlogged.
If the rain does play fair for the duration of the two Tests in Dhaka from August 27 and Chittagong from September 4, the series is expected to be a close affair after Bangladesh's newfound Test proficiency, especially at home, evidenced by their 1-1 draw with England in October last year.
Like in that series, spin is expected to be a major weapon and Australia have come prepared with three specialist spinners in the battle-hardened Nathan Lyon and the young pair of Matt Renshaw and Mitchell Swepson.
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