Shoriful Islam's 7/48 Makes Him First Visiting Bowler in 33 Years With a Seven-For in Australia

Shoriful Islam produced a career-defining spell on day two of the second Test between Australia and Bangladesh in Mackay, taking career-best figures of 7 for 48 to become the first visiting bowler in 33 years to claim a seven-wicket haul in a Test on Australian soil.

The left-arm pacer's effort helped bowl Australia out for 210 on day two, after the hosts had earlier skittled Bangladesh for just 64. Shoriful repeatedly found ways to break through Australia's middle order after the hosts had briefly threatened to pull away from 41 for 3, extracting movement and attacking the stumps throughout a relentless spell of 15 overs. It also produced what many observers called the ball of the series, a delivery that castled Cameron Green.

The 7 for 48 places Shoriful alongside West Indies great Curtly Ambrose, who was the last visiting bowler to take seven wickets in a Test in Australia, with figures of 7 for 25 against Australia at the WACA in Perth back in 1993. It's also the first seven-wicket haul by a Bangladesh bowler against Australia in Test cricket, and the best figures by a Bangladesh bowler in an away Test, surpassing Taijul Islam's 7 for 138 against Zimbabwe earlier this year. It even beats the previous benchmark set by his own teammate just one match earlier, with Hasan Mahmud's 6 for 55 in the Darwin Test having briefly held the record for best figures by a Bangladesh bowler against Australia before Shoriful bettered it in Mackay.

Despite his heroics, Bangladesh's overall position in the match remained precarious given their first-innings collapse, with the tourists still trailing by over 100 runs after Australia's reply. Shoriful's spell nonetheless stands as one of the standout individual performances of the series, a rare bright spot with the ball for Bangladesh in a Test that has otherwise been dominated by Mitchell Starc at the other end.