Bangladesh dominate Australia despite Smith reprieve

Bangladesh dominated Australia on day one of the first Test, despite Steve Smith benefitting from being given not out on review to a ball he later said he nicked.

Smith was on seven when the Tigers appealed for caught behind off Ebadot Hossain, but umpire Kumar Dharmasena was unmoved.

The tourists reviewed the decision and Smith appeared to start to walk off, only for the Snicko technology to show a flat line as the ball passed the bat and so the not out decision stood.

Smith went on to make 71 but his team-mates otherwise struggled in Darwin as Tigers fast bowler Hasan Mahmud took a career-best 6-55 to help dismiss the hosts for 198.

Bangladesh reached 96-1 at the close, trailing by 102 runs.

When asked if he thought he had edged the ball, Smith said: "I think so, yeah. I was lucky? Yeah, it seems that way. You got to take it sometimes.

"Maybe I didn't nick it. I don't know. But I certainly felt something. If I'd been given out, I was going to walk off. But yeah, technology saved me today, I guess."

Snicko was the source of several controversies during the last Ashes series in Australia - host wicketkeeper Alex Carey was given a reprieve after a mistake by the operator of the technology, while England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was twice involved in contentious decisions.

However, those issues related to images and audio spikes not appearing to line up properly, rather than a flat line throughout.

Regardless of Smith, who was also dropped on two, adding crucial extra runs until he skied Mahmud, this was a fine effort by Bangladesh after Australia won the toss and elected to bat.

Despite the top and middle orders again failing to convince, the hosts battled to 152-5 before fast bowler Taskin Ahmed bowled Beau Webster and Australia lost their last five wickets for just 46 runs.

In reply, opener Shadman Islam nicked Mitchell Starc to gully off a leading edge but Tanzid Hasan Tamim, who is unbeaten on 32, and Mominul Haque, who is 35 not out, steered the Tigers to the close with no further loss.

Australia have never lost a home Test to Bangladesh, only losing once to the Tigers in six previous Tests - at Mirpur in 2017.

This is the first of a two-Test series.

-BBC