Table of Contents
Test cricket between these two sides used to be a formality. The Australia National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh Cricket Team Test Timeline opened in 2003 with two innings defeats, and for 14 years, nothing about that pattern looked likely to change.
Bangladesh only earned Test status in 2000, three years before they first faced Australia in the format. Their early Test cricket against the best sides in the world was mostly about survival, not competition. Australia had McGrath, Warne, Gillespie, and a batting order stacked five deep with genuine Test greats.
Then came 2017. Then came August 2026, when Bangladesh beat Australia in a Test on Australian soil for the first time in history. Then, just days later, Australia hit back in Mackay. This timeline runs through all of it, from Darwin 2003 to the finished result in Mackay 2026, with every scorecard, every record, and every reason this rivalry finally has some genuine needle in it.
Australia National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh Cricket Team Test Timeline: Overview
| Category | Australia | Bangladesh |
|---|---|---|
| Test Matches | 8 | 8 |
| Wins | 6 | 2 |
| Losses | 2 | 6 |
| Draws | 0 | 0 |
A word of caution before you publish anything built on this table: sources online are genuinely inconsistent on this count, largely because the Mackay Test only just finished. Australia won that game inside two days, which took the series 1-1 and pushed the overall Test record to 6-2 in Australia’s favor. Double-check against a live database before you run with these figures, since a fresh Test between these sides updates the whole picture fast.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Head-to-Head Record
Total Tests played: 8.
Australia wins: 6.
Bangladesh wins: 2, at Mirpur in 2017 and Darwin in 2026.
Draws: 0. Every single meeting between these two sides in Test cricket has produced a result.
Home vs away record: Australia have never lost a Test to Bangladesh on Australian soil until Darwin in 2026, and they responded within a week by winning in Mackay. Bangladesh’s only away win over Australia remains that Darwin Test. In Bangladesh, Australia have won 3 of 4 Tests, with Bangladesh’s Mirpur win in 2017 the exception.
Highest team totals: Australia’s 581 for 4 declared, at Chittagong in 2006, is the biggest total either side has posted. Bangladesh’s best is 427, at Fatullah in 2006, just ahead of their 426 in Darwin in 2026.
Lowest team totals: Bangladesh’s 64 all out, in the first innings at Mackay in 2026, is the lowest completed innings in this fixture’s history.
Biggest winning margins: Australia’s innings-and-132-run win in Darwin in 2003 is the largest margin by an innings for Australia. Bangladesh’s 9-wicket win in Darwin in 2026 is their biggest margin, and their only win outside the 20-run Mirpur classic in 2017.
Australia National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh Cricket Team Test Timeline: 2003
1st Test – Australia vs Bangladesh, Darwin 2003
Date: 18-20 July 2003.
Venue: Marrara Oval, Darwin, the 89th Test venue in history and Bangladesh’s first Test on Australian soil.
Scorecard summary: Australia 407 for 7 declared beat Bangladesh 97 and 178.
Winner: Australia.
Winning margin: An innings and 132 runs, completed inside 3 days.
Key performers: Steve Waugh made an unbeaten century and was Player of the Match. Bangladesh’s top score in either innings barely cleared 30, and the match never looked competitive from the first session.
2nd Test – Australia vs Bangladesh, Cairns 2003
Date: 25-28 July 2003.
Venue: Bundaberg Rum Stadium, Cairns.
Result: Australia won by an innings and 98 runs.
Winning margin: Australia posted 556 for 4 declared, with Darren Lehmann making 156 not out to finish the series with 287 runs at an average of 143.50. Bangladesh managed 295 and 163.
Key performances: Leg-spinner Stuart MacGill took 5 for 77 and 5 for 56 to finish with 17 wickets across the two-Test series, the standout individual haul of the entire tour.
Australia won both Tests in the 2003 series, including that innings-and-132-run victory in Darwin and the innings-and-98-run victory in Cairns. It was Bangladesh’s first taste of Test cricket against Australia, and it was brutal.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Timeline: 2006
1st Test – Fatullah, 2006
Match result: Australia won by 3 wickets, the tightest margin recorded anywhere in this rivalry’s Test history.
Scorecard highlights: Bangladesh batted first and posted 427, still one of their two highest Test totals against Australia two decades later. Australia were bowled out for just 269 in reply, conceding a lead of 158. Bangladesh’s second innings folded for 148, setting Australia a target of 307.
Ricky Ponting’s contribution: Ponting anchored the chase through the middle overs as Australia scrambled home by the narrowest of margins, the closest Test result between these two teams to this day.
Australia’s three-wicket victory: It remains the only Test in this fixture that Australia won by a genuinely tight margin, rather than the innings defeats that define most of the rest of the record.
2nd Test – Chittagong, 2006
Match result: Australia won by an innings and 80 runs.
Jason Gillespie’s unbeaten 201: Sent in as a nightwatchman, Gillespie batted through to an unbeaten double century, the highest score by a nightwatchman in Test history and still one of the most bizarre individual innings in this entire rivalry. Australia declared on 581 for 4, their highest total against Bangladesh.
Australia’s innings-and-80-run victory: Bangladesh replied with 197 and 304, no match for a total that size.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Timeline: 2017
This is one of the strongest sections in the whole timeline, because 2017 produced Bangladesh’s first Test victory over Australia.
1st Test – Mirpur, 2017
Bangladesh’s historic 20-run victory: Bangladesh 260 and 221 beat Australia 217 and 244.
Shakib Al Hasan’s performance: Ten wickets in the match, five in each innings, plus 84 runs with the bat. It’s still the best all-round performance by any player in this fixture’s history.
Match scorecard: Chasing 265 to win, Australia were 158 for 2 before losing their last 7 wickets for 73 runs.
Why the result was significant: Bangladesh had lost 5 straight Tests to Australia before this one. It was their maiden Test win over a full-strength Australian touring side, and it arrived within a day of West Indies stunning England at Headingley, a genuinely wild 48 hours for Test cricket’s established order.
2nd Test – Chittagong, 2017
Australia’s seven-wicket victory: Australia leveled the series, chasing down a modest target with wickets to spare.
Nathan Lyon’s bowling: Lyon took 6 for 82 in Bangladesh’s second innings, the difference between the two sides on a wearing surface.
David Warner’s century: Warner made 112, his innings the platform that kept Australia in the contest after Bangladesh’s spinners had made early inroads.
Series result: 1-1. The 2017 series ended drawn, with Bangladesh winning the Mirpur Test by 20 runs and Australia winning in Chittagong by 7 wickets.
Australia National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh Cricket Team Test Timeline: 2026
This is the freshest and most consequential chapter in the whole rivalry, and it just finished.
1st Test – Darwin, 2026
Date: 13-16 August 2026.
Venue: Marrara Oval, Darwin, the same ground where this rivalry began in 2003.
Australia score: 198 and a modest second innings.
Bangladesh score: 426, then 57 for 1 in the chase.
Bangladesh’s 9-wicket victory: Bangladesh had been bowled out for 54 in a warm-up match days earlier and were missing pace bowler Nahid Rana. None of it mattered. Tanzid Hasan’s maiden Test century (101) built a 228-run first-innings lead, and Hasan Mahmud’s 9-wicket match haul finished the job.
Historic significance: Bangladesh’s Darwin victory was particularly significant because it was their first-ever Test win in Australia, after 5 previous Tests on Australian soil had all gone Australia’s way.
Key players: Hasan Mahmud (Player of the Match, 9/111 in the match), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (5/66), Tanzid Hasan (101), and Cameron Green, whose defiant 104 for Australia was the only real resistance the tourists put up.
2nd Test – Mackay, 2026
Australia’s response: Australia won by an innings and 51 runs, inside 2 days, at Harrup Park in Mackay’s first-ever Test.
Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket match haul: Starc took 6 for 12 in Bangladesh’s first innings and 4 for 39 in the second, finishing with match figures of 10 for 51, his fourth career 10-wicket haul and the second-best match figures of his career. He was named Player of the Match and Player of the Series.
Bangladesh’s first-innings and second-innings totals: Bangladesh were bowled out for 64 and then 95, the first time in their history they’ve failed to reach three figures in either innings of the same Test. Australia’s reply of 210, built on Cameron Green’s 67 and Steve Smith’s 42, was more than enough.
Australia’s innings-and-51-run victory: It became the second-shortest Test ever played on Australian soil, with 18 wickets falling on day 1 alone. Shoriful Islam bowled the ball of the match, an inswinging yorker that removed Green, but it wasn’t nearly enough support for Bangladesh’s batting.
Series result: Australia leveled the 2026 series in Mackay, and the two-match series finished drawn 1-1, matching the scoreline from 2017.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Series Results
| Series | Tests | Australia | Bangladesh | Series Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Australia |
| 2006 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Australia |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Drawn |
| 2026 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Drawn |
Four series played, and Bangladesh has still never won one outright. But 2 draws from the last 2 series, after 2 whitewashes in the first 2, tells its own story about where this fixture has moved.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Match Results: All Matches
| Date | Venue | Winner | Margin | Australia Score | Bangladesh Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-20 Jul 2003 | Darwin | Australia | Innings and 132 runs | 407/7d | 97 & 178 |
| 25-28 Jul 2003 | Cairns | Australia | Innings and 98 runs | 556/4d | 295 & 163 |
| 9-13 Apr 2006 | Fatullah | Australia | 3 wickets | 269 & 307/7 | 427 & 148 |
| 16-20 Apr 2006 | Chittagong | Australia | Innings and 80 runs | 581/4d | 197 & 304 |
| 27-30 Aug 2017 | Mirpur | Bangladesh | 20 runs | 217 & 244 | 260 & 221 |
| 4-8 Sep 2017 | Chittagong | Australia | 7 wickets | 302 & 108/3 | 176 & 233 |
| 13-16 Aug 2026 | Darwin | Bangladesh | 9 wickets | 198 & ~55 | 426 & 57/1 |
| 22-23 Aug 2026 | Mackay | Australia | Innings and 51 runs | 210 | 64 & 95 |
Biggest Wins in Australia vs Bangladesh Test History
Biggest Australia win by runs (non-innings)
Fatullah 2006 was Australia’s only win by a margin outside an innings, and even that was by wickets rather than runs, so a genuine runs-margin win doesn’t really exist in this fixture. Every other Australian win has come by an innings.
Biggest Australia win by innings
Chittagong 2006, an innings and 80 runs, built on Jason Gillespie’s freakish unbeaten double century and a total of 581 for 4.
Biggest Bangladesh win by runs
Mirpur 2017, by 20 runs, still Bangladesh’s only Test win by a runs margin over Australia and one of the tightest finishes in this entire fixture.
Biggest Bangladesh win by wickets
Darwin 2026, by 9 wickets, chasing just 57 after bowling Australia out twice.
Highest Team Totals in Australia vs Bangladesh Tests
Australia’s highest score: 581 for 4 declared, Chittagong, 2006.
Bangladesh’s highest score: 427, Fatullah, 2006, with 426 in Darwin in 2026 close behind.
Lowest completed innings: Bangladesh’s 64 all out, Mackay, 2026.
Highest successful chase: Australia’s 307 for 7 at Fatullah in 2006, chasing 307 to win by 3 wickets. Nothing else in this fixture’s history comes close to that as a successful run chase.
Top Run Scorers in Australia vs Bangladesh Tests
Standout individual contributions across the eight Tests played, rather than a full aggregate leaderboard, since match-by-match tallies for every player who’s featured in this fixture aren’t consistently recorded in one place.
| Player | Team | Standout Score | Match | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darren Lehmann | Australia | 287 runs (series) | 2003 series | 2003 |
| Jason Gillespie | Australia | 201* | Chittagong | 2006 |
| Steve Waugh | Australia | 100* | Darwin | 2003 |
| David Warner | Australia | 112 | Chittagong | 2017 |
| Cameron Green | Australia | 104 | Darwin | 2026 |
| Tamim Iqbal | Bangladesh | 78 & 71 | Mirpur | 2017 |
| Tanzid Hasan | Bangladesh | 101 | Darwin | 2026 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 84 | Mirpur | 2017 |
Leading Wicket-Takers in Australia vs Bangladesh Tests
| Player | Team | Standout Figures | Match | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuart MacGill | Australia | 17 wickets (series) | 2003 series | 2003 |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 10/51 (match) | Mackay | 2026 |
| Nathan Lyon | Australia | 6/82 | Chittagong | 2017 |
| Shoriful Islam | Bangladesh | 7/48 | Mackay | 2026 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 10/153 (match) | Mirpur | 2017 |
| Hasan Mahmud | Bangladesh | 9/111 (match) | Darwin | 2026 |
Nathan Lyon deserves particular attention here. His 6 for 82 in Chittagong in 2017 turned a competitive series decider into a comfortable Australian win, and it remains one of the finest single spells any bowler has produced in this fixture.
Most Memorable Australia vs Bangladesh Test Matches
Darwin 2003: The opening chapter, and about as one-sided as Test cricket gets.
Cairns 2003: Stuart MacGill’s 17-wicket series, and Bangladesh’s introduction to just how far the gap really was.
Fatullah 2006: The tightest match in the fixture’s history, and the only genuinely close Test the two sides have played.
Chittagong 2006: Jason Gillespie’s 201 not out, batting at number 8. It’s the kind of innings that gets brought up whenever this rivalry comes up in conversation, still.
Mirpur 2017: Bangladesh’s first-ever Test win over Australia, sealed by Shakib Al Hasan’s all-round brilliance.
Chittagong 2017: Nathan Lyon and David Warner leveled the series and denied Bangladesh a first-ever series win.
Darwin 2026: Bangladesh’s first Test win on Australian soil, against a warm-up-match humiliation and a missing strike bowler.
Mackay 2026: Mitchell Starc’s 10-wicket demolition job, wrapped up inside 2 days.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Records
Highest Team Score
581 for 4 declared, Australia, Chittagong, 2006.
Lowest Team Score
64 all out, Bangladesh, Mackay, 2026.
Highest Individual Score
201 not out, Jason Gillespie, Chittagong, 2006.
Best Bowling Figures in an Innings
7 for 48, Shoriful Islam, Mackay, 2026.
Best Bowling Figures in a Match
10 for 51, Mitchell Starc, Mackay, 2026.
Biggest Winning Margin
An innings and 132 runs, Australia, Darwin, 2003.
Closest Test Match
Fatullah, 2006, Australia won by 3 wickets after Bangladesh had led by 158 runs on first innings.
Most Successful Australian Bowler
Stuart MacGill’s 17 wickets across the 2003 series is the best single-series haul, while Mitchell Starc now holds the standout match figures with his 10 for 51 in Mackay.
Most Successful Bangladesh Player
Shakib Al Hasan, whose 10 wickets and 84 runs at Mirpur in 2017 remain the best all-round match performance either side has produced in this fixture.
Australia vs Bangladesh Test Timeline: Key Milestones
2003 → First Test series, Australia win 2-0 ↓ 2006 → Australia dominate again, including the closest match in the fixture’s history at Fatullah ↓ 2017 → Bangladesh record their first-ever Test win, at Mirpur ↓ 2017 → Australia level the series in Chittagong ↓ 2026 → Bangladesh win their first Test in Australia, at Darwin ↓ 2026 → Australia level the series in Mackay
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Australia and Bangladesh first play a Test match?
18 July 2003, at Marrara Oval in Darwin. Australia won by an innings and 132 runs.
How many Test matches have Australia and Bangladesh played?
8, as of the Mackay Test that finished on 23 August 2026.
Who has won more Tests between Australia and Bangladesh?
Australia, 6 wins to 2.
Has Bangladesh ever beaten Australia in a Test match?
Yes, twice: Mirpur in 2017 and Darwin in 2026.
When did Bangladesh first beat Australia in Test cricket?
30 August 2017, at Mirpur, winning by 20 runs.
Has Bangladesh ever beaten Australia in Australia?
Yes, once. The Darwin Test in August 2026, won by 9 wickets, was Bangladesh’s first-ever Test win on Australian soil.
What was the result of the 2026 Australia vs Bangladesh Test series?
The series finished drawn 1-1. Bangladesh won the first Test in Darwin by 9 wickets, and Australia won the second Test in Mackay by an innings and 51 runs.
Who has scored the most Test runs between Australia and Bangladesh?
No single player’s exact career total against this specific opponent is consistently tracked, but Darren Lehmann’s 287 runs in the 2003 series and David Warner’s 112 in Chittagong in 2017 are among the standout individual contributions.
Who has taken the most wickets in Australia vs Bangladesh Tests?
Stuart MacGill’s 17 wickets across the 2003 series is the best series haul recorded, while Mitchell Starc’s 10 for 51 at Mackay in 2026 is the best match figures.
What is the biggest win in Australia vs Bangladesh Test history?
An innings and 132 runs, Australia’s win in Darwin in 2003, the largest margin either side has managed in this fixture.
Conclusion
Six wins to two still tells you who’s dominated this rivalry across 8 Tests since 2003. But look closer and the shape of that record has changed completely.
The first two series were whitewashes, 2003 and 2006, and Bangladesh barely competed. The last two series have both finished 1-1. Bangladesh’s win in Darwin in 2026 wasn’t a fluke result against a weakened side either, it came against a full-strength Australian team that responded within a week by winning in Mackay inside 2 days.
That’s the real story of the Australia National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh Cricket Team Test Timeline. It took 23 years and 8 matches to get here, but this is no longer a rivalry where one side just turns up. If you’re tracking the white-ball side of this story too, the Bangladesh National Cricket Team vs Australia Cricket Team ODI Timeline and the broader Bangladesh National Cricket Team vs Australia Cricket Team Timeline cover how that same shift has played out across ODIs and T20Is, right up to Bangladesh’s first bilateral ODI series win over Australia in June 2026.
