AUS vs BAN, 2nd Test: Starc strikes on first ball, floors Bangladesh with 5-wicket haul on Day 1 | WATCH

Mitchell Starc floored Bangladesh inside the first session on day one of the ongoing second Test in Mackay. Starc struck gold on the first ball of a Test match, later bagging a five-for inside his first five overs to leave Bangladesh in tatters.

Almost a week after Australia shockingly conceded the series opener in Darwin by nine wickets, the hosts bounced back in some style by reducing Bangladesh to 35 for six at lunch on the opening day. The showstopper, Starc, returned with figures of 9-6-11-5, while captain Pat Cummins picked the remaining one wicket.

Just as Bangladeshi quicks troubled the Aussie batters on day one in Darwin, they suffered a similar, or rather poorer, fate during their turn in the second Test. The left-arm quick brought the crowd to its feet by removing opener Shadman Islam caught in the gully for a first-ball duck.

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Starc returned with the same aggression and tweaked planning in his second over and picked up wickets of Tanzid Hasan (0) and Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (0) in successive deliveries. Two wickets in two balls meant only one thing: a hat-trick, which he missed, and so the ball went over Mushfiqur Rahim’s stumps straight to the keeper.

Bangladesh’s scorecard read 9 for 3 in 2.2 overs.

Things turned from bad to worse for them after Starc, in his third and fourth over, respectively, and less than 42 minutes into the opening day in Mackay, picked two more wickets and completed his five-wicket haul. He first accounted for Mominul Haque, caught by Cameron Green on nine, before getting his fifth of the day by removing Litton Das plumb in front for a duck. Precise line and zeal through the wicket crushed Bangladesh’s momentum as Australia sit in the driver’s seat.

“Still a little bit of shape there,” Starc said of Mackay’s wicket on day one.

“It’s probably not as much sideways as the first session over at Darwin. I think if it’s a lot like the Gabba, it’s going to get a little bit quicker, harden up a little bit more. It’s still quite greasy underfoot to start with. So obviously it’s beautiful weather; it might harden up a little bit, get a bit quicker and then hopefully once we get four more wickets, there’s plenty of runs in it,” he added.