Bangladeshi cricket team in Australia in 2003
| Bangladeshi cricket team in Australia in 2003 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
| Australia | Bangladesh | ||
| Dates | 27 June 2003 – 6 August 2003 | ||
| Captains | Steve Waugh | Khaled Mahmud | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | Australia won the 2-match series 2–0 | ||
| Most runs | Darren Lehmann (287) | Hannan Sarkar (166) | |
| Most wickets | Stuart MacGill (17) | Mashrafe Mortaza (4) | |
| Player of the series | Stuart MacGill (Australia) | ||
| One Day International series | |||
| Results | Australia won the 3-match series 3–0 | ||
| Most runs | Ricky Ponting (130) | Alok Kapali (83) | |
| Most wickets |
Ian Harvey (5) Brad Hogg (5) |
Mohammad Rafique (3) Mashrafe Mortaza (3) |
|
| Player of the series | Ricky Ponting (Australia) | ||
The Bangladesh national cricket team played two Test matches and three One Day International (ODI) matches on a mid-year tour of Australia in 2003. They were captained by all-rounder Khaled Mahmud. The Australians were under a split captaincy—Steve Waugh in the Tests and Ricky Ponting in the following ODIs. The series marked the first time a Test match had been played outside an Australian state capital city; with matches played at Bundaberg Rum Stadium in Cairns, and the newly upgraded Marrara Oval in Darwin.
Australia easily won the two-match Test series. Bangladesh's performances' did not get any better during the ODI series—failing to score more than 147 in any innings—as Australia completed a clean-sweep.
Bangladesh had struggled to come to terms with International cricket since becoming the tenth Test team in November 2000. Before their 2003 tour of Australian, Bangladesh had only one Test draw, which came against lowly ranked Zimbabwe, and not a single test win. Their One Day International (ODI) form had also been poor since their historic victory over Pakistan in the 1999 Cricket World Cup. The victory subsequently paved the way for their admission to Test cricket. In Bangladesh's last series before Australia, they were defeated by an innings in both matches by South Africa. Australia, however, had a 3–1 away Test victory—starting in April—against the West Indies, and a 4–3 ODI victory over the same opposition. Earlier in the year, they remained unbeaten (10 matches) in winning the 2003 ODI Cricket World Cup in South Africa. Led by Ricky Ponting, Australia defeated India in the final, despite losing leg-spiner Shane Warne. Prior to the start of the World Cup, Warne—Australia's highest Test wicket-taker—was sent home from South Africa after a drug test during the recent one-day series in Australia returned a positive result for a banned diuretic. He was consequently banned from International and first-class cricket for a year.
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