Bangladesh Could Give Steve Smith an Uncomfortable Start to Life as Captain

If Australia learned anything during their recent Ashes defeat at the hands of England, it should be that they are not nearly as good as they think they are.

Steve Smith will begin his journey as captain of Australia with a trip to Bangladesh. While in years gone by teams would have seen this as an “easy” win, Bangladesh have come on leaps and bounds since then.

In recent months, the Tigers have pushed Pakistan, India and South Africa close, and with a wounded Aussie team, they have a chance to hammer home their point. Bangladesh will be helped by the fact that the Aussie team coming to their shores are having to make do without a number of their key players, with five senior men recently retiring.  

Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Chris Rogers, Ryan Harris and Shane Watson have all called it a day. Also out of the picture is David Warner, who is injured, while Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood are being rested.

This could very well be the best chance Bangladesh have ever had to beat the Aussies. The hosts have lost all four Tests they have played against Australia, but their recent record is far more impressive. With just two losses out of their last 12 home Tests and ODI series wins against Pakistan, India and South Africa, Bangladesh have reason to be confident.

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Australia’s inexperienced team will have their work cut out for them on Bangladesh’s turning tracks and they could make life very uncomfortable for Smith. The Aussies are not sure on their batting lineup yet, but Smith dismissed the notion that they are simply using the tour as a way to trial new players as Australia go through another transitional phase.

The skipper was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying:

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Every Test you play you want to win, you want to win very series you play, and it’s no different going to Bangladesh.

It’s going to be difficult playing over there, they’ve played some very good cricket in their own backyard. 

It’s going to be a tough tour but hopefully we prepare well and adapt to the conditions accordingly and have a successful tour.

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While Smith has long been tipped as Clarke’s successor and will most likely stay in the job for the foreseeable future, a series loss against Bangladesh will be a very uncomfortable start. Despite their improvements recently, many will still consider Bangladesh to be a “small” team and the odds will almost certainly show that they are the underdogs heading into this series.

Smith and Co. have certainly not talked down their opposition, but a loss will still be considered a shock and will make the start to his captaincy career very awkward. The skipper has said he views this as an exciting time for Australian cricket.

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We want to improve the way we play away from home and this is our first chance to do that.

The conditions can be quite foreign to what we’re used to in Australia so the guys will have to adapt right away and have plans in place to make sure they’re doing everything they can to make sure they have success over there.

We’ve got a bit of a clean slate with a lot of guys coming in and it’s a really exciting time for Australian cricket.

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For Bangladesh, this series could be a defining moment. Should they manage to rattle Australia, they will finally be able to shake off the “minnows” tag that has followed them around for so long.