Australia captain Pat Cummins said his side’s emphatic second-Test victory over Bangladesh in Mackay was driven by self-respect rather than revenge. Australia won the match by an innings and 51 runs inside two days, drawing the series 1-1 after Bangladesh’s unexpected win in the opening Test in Darwin. The report was published on 23 August 2026.

Bangladesh had returned to playing a Test in Darwin after 23 years and secured a historic nine-wicket victory there. Cummins said Australia needed to respond after losing a match and were pleased to have done so. He described the turnaround as necessary for his team following the criticism that followed the first-Test defeat.

Cummins rejected the suggestion that the Mackay pitch was poor, despite 30 wickets falling in five sessions. He said the surface appeared good and attributed the rapid finish to strong bowling as well as below-par batting. Mitchell Starc took 10 wickets across the two innings for Australia, while Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam took seven wickets in the only Australian innings.