‘A bit of a blip!: Steve Smith defends No. 1 Australia after Bangladesh’s historic 9-wicket Darwin upset originally appeared on Cricket News.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Steve Smith called Australia’s nine-wicket Darwin loss to Bangladesh a “blip,” pointing to their No. 1 Test ranking.
- Bangladesh secured their first-ever Test win in Australia, taking a 228-run first-innings lead before wrapping up the chase.
- Pat Cummins defended his decision to bat first and hinted at possible XI changes ahead of the Mackay Test.
‘No. 1 team for a reason’: Steve Smith calls Bangladesh loss a ‘blip’ after shock Darwin Test defeat
Steve Smith isn’t ready to panic, even after Australia suffered one of the more humbling defeats in recent memory.
Following a nine-wicket hammering by Bangladesh in Darwin, the veteran batter described the result as nothing more than a rough patch, leaning on the team’s No. 1 Test ranking as proof this defeat doesn’t reflect who they really are.
Bangladesh’s victory marked their first-ever Test win on Australian soil, and only their second triumph over Australia in Test cricket, following their breakthrough win in Dhaka back in 2017.
Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first, only to watch his side collapse to 198. Bangladesh answered in commanding fashion, piling up 426 runs to seize a 228-run first-innings advantage that ultimately proved impossible to overturn.
MORE: Bangladesh’s historic feat Down Under: Tests taken by every team before winning in Australia listed
Australia fought back harder in their second innings, reaching 284 thanks largely to a century from Cameron Green, but Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s five-wicket haul kept the target manageable. Bangladesh knocked off the remaining runs in just 14.2 overs to complete a comprehensive win.
Asked whether this loss deserved deeper scrutiny or should simply be written off as a bad week, Smith leaned toward the latter.
“We’re the number one team for a reason. We’ve played really good, consistent cricket over a long period of time. And yeah, this week was a bit of a blip,” he said.
“And, you know, we got outplayed. They played really nicely. So you’ve got to give credit to Bangladesh. Um, we could have done things a lot better. But yeah, credit goes to them for the way they played throughout these last four days.”
Pressed further on what actually went wrong across the four days, Smith didn’t sugarcoat things.
“I thought Bangladesh bowled really well the first morning. Really disciplined, our batters probably weren’t disciplined enough,” he said.
“Second innings they batted really nicely. Got too many in front and, uh, we weren’t able to catch it up yesterday on, you know, a good wicket to bat on. A couple of us got starts and didn’t go on with that.
“Greeny, I thought, played really nicely to get 100, but, yeah, he didn’t have any partners to go with him. We needed probably 200 at least, plus, to be in the game there.”
MORE: The greatest upsets in Test cricket listed: From New Zealand in India to Bangladesh in Australia
“Pretty simple: we were outplayed.”
Steve Smith was pretty frank in his assessment of Australia’s upset defeat to Bangladesh.
Hear every ball, live and ad-free, on ABC listen: https://t.co/jipkFDNPpX
Live blog: https://t.co/Sm3RX3tOJG#AUSvBANpic.twitter.com/mMX79XVYZO— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) August 16, 2026
Pat Cummins defends his decision to bat first
In the post-match press conference, Pat Cummins also explained his toss call, and described the surface as firm and initially tricky before settling into good batting conditions.
“It was very, it was rock hard. Thought with a bit of grass it might be tough for the first hour, but felt like a pretty good batting track,” he said.
“Whereas hard to know what day four and five are going to do, but you feel like they might it might crack up in the heat, might spin. That’s pretty much how it played out.”
When asked whether he had second thoughts about the decision, the Australian captain stood firm.
“Do I regret it? Probably not. Probably do the same thing,” he said.
“I think, you know, if you if you get through that first hour, even the seam numbers weren’t very high after the kind of the first hour.”
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With the second Test set to begin in Mackay on August 22, Cummins left the door open for changes in the XI following such a heavy defeat.
“I think every time there’s a game like this, you always kind of look at your matchups and, you know, your makeup of the team for the next one” he said.
“But, yeah, we only just finished, so we’ll have a think about it. You know, we’re pretty good at bouncing back. So no doubt the batters and every group will get together and have a good think about this one and where we can improve.”
MORE: Has Bangladesh ever won a Test series against Australia?
Calling this defeat a “blip” might be underselling the problem
Smith’s instinct to protect the team’s standing is understandable given Australia’s strong Test record, but labelling this defeat a mere blip risks glossing over some real warning signs.
Losing your first innings for 198 after choosing to bat first, then getting outplayed again in the second innings despite favourable conditions, isn’t simply bad luck; it points to discipline issues Smith himself admitted to when discussing the batting unit’s approach on day one.
There’s also something worth noting in how thin Australia’s batting support looked around Green’s century. One player fighting alone rarely wins Test matches, and if that pattern repeats in Mackay, “blip” will start looking like wishful thinking rather than an accurate read of the situation.
Cummins deserves credit for standing by his toss decision rather than making excuses, and his openness to reviewing the XI suggests the camp isn’t entirely dismissing what went wrong. Still, Australia’s No. 1 ranking was built over years of consistent performances, and one bad week can become two if genuine adjustments don’t follow.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, have every right to feel their historic win was built on skill rather than fortune, and Australia would do well not to underestimate them again in the series decider.
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