Bangladesh vs Australia: Nathan Lyon's career best figures propel visitors to series-levelling victory

Chittagong: Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon returned a career best 13-154 on Thursday as his team completed a seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second Test to level the series. Lyon followed up his 7-94 with 6-60 in the second innings to wrap up Bangladesh’s innings for 157 on the fourth day of the match. Australia lost three wickets for 48 but the victory was never out of the sight. Glen Maxwell ended the match with a consecutive cover-drive four and slog-swept six over mid-wicket as Australia brought up the victory in only 15.3 overs. [caption id=“attachment_4019649” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Nathan Lyon (2nd L) celebrates with his teammates after the dismissal of Bangladesh’s Mominul Haqueon Day 4 of the 2nd Test. AP[/caption] Maxwell was unbeaten on 25 off 17 with two fours and as many sixes with Peter Handscomb on 16. Opener Matt Renshaw was out for 22. Fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, left-arm spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam picked up one wicket apiece for Bangladesh. Lyon helped Australia bowl Bangladesh out just after the tea break. Left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe (2-49) and fast bowler Pat Cummins (2-27) complemented the effort of Lyon, who now has 22 wickets in the two-Test series, second to Sri Lanka bowler Rangana Herath’s 23. Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim was the highest scorer for Bangladesh with 31. Mominul Haque made 29 and Sabbir Rahman added 24. Rahim and Rahman combined for 54 runs for the sixth wicket before Lyon left them at 43-5. As the partnership appeared to grow with confidence, Cummins took the wicket of Sabbir, who played an injudicious shot to be stumped. Sabbir hit two boundaries in his 59-ball knock. The real blow came when Rahim fended a delivery from Cummins to get a healthy edge. Rahim faced 103 balls and hit just one boundary. Lyon then completed his second five-for of the Test and third straight, dismissing Hauqe for 29. Hauqe tried a sweep shot against the turn and top-edged to Cummins at deep backward square. O’Keefe then joined Lyon in cleaning up Bangladesh’s tail to give Australia a small target to chase. Lyon, however, became the second Australian off-spinner to collect two 10-wicket hauls in his career after Hugh Trumble, who reached that milestone in 1902 with back-to-back 10-wicket totals in that year’s Ashes series. Lyon has claimed 22 wickets in the series and surpassed JJ Ferris’ mark from the two-Test 1887 Ashes series, when Ferris picked up 18 wickets in the first two matches of his international career. Earlier Thursday, Australia failed to add to its overnight total and faced only nine balls to be all out for 377 in its first innings, leading by 72 runs. In the second over, Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Lyon, who edged a ball to first slip. Rahman finished with 4-84. Opener David Warner led the Australians with 123, his second straight century in the series. Handscomb scored 82 while captain Steve Smith added 58. Electing to bat first, Bangladesh was bowled out for 305 in its first innings before Warner’s second successive century (123) guided Australia to 377 and earned a crucial 72-run lead. Australia lost the first Test in Dhaka by 20 runs.