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- Live live Live updates: Australia vs Bangladesh, first Test, day one from Darwin Pat Cummins wins the toss and elects to bat first, as Australia takes on Bangladesh in Darwin, the first of two Test matches held in the Top End. Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage. Submit a comment or question Live updates New: Filters Choose what information you see below by using filters Not an ideal lead-in for Bangladesh Bangladesh began its tour of Australia with a foreboding innings loss to the Cricket Australia XI, in which the Tigers were bowled out for just 54 in their second dig. Couple that with injuries to exciting young fast bowlers Nahid Rana and Shoriful Islam, and it has been a far from ideal lead-in for the tourists. But wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das is a welcome return from injury for Bangladesh — he'll slot into an experienced middle order that also features 39-year-old mainstay Mushfiqur Rahim, spin-bowling allrounder and centurion from the warmup game Mehidy Hasan Miraz, as well as captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. Shanto may well be the key for Bangladesh in the top end. He's averaged over 42 across the past two years with the bat, and is now his country's most successful Test captain, having won eight of his 19 games leading the team. While the middle order may be an area of strength, Bangladesh comes into the series with a distinct lack of stability up the top, having rotated through a number of openers in recent years. That has left No. 3 Mominul Haque — who has a very respectable Test batting average of 38 from his 78 matches — with plenty of work to do on plenty of occasions. Home-town hero's 'big moment' in Darwin Australia opener Jake Weatherald will play a Test match in Darwin with a modified technique that he will unveil against Bangladesh in a series of vital importance on a personal front. The 31-year-old was born and raised in Darwin where his career kicked off after playing with Northern Territory Strike. Of all the batters in the Australian side ahead of the two-Test series, his position is the most precarious. Weatherald made his debut in last summer's Ashes series and scored just 201 runs at 22.33 in five Tests, with his only half-century a vital 72 in the second Test in Brisbane. Fox Cricket commentator Mark Waugh said of Weatherald that during the Ashes there were "a few worrying signs with his technique, falling over and getting hit on the pads a lot. "I think he needs to rectify that, and I think he needs runs in these two Test matches to be picked for South Africa," Waugh said. Weatherald said that it was "a challenge, especially when people you respect say things about your batting", but added the scrutiny was part and parcel of Test cricket. "I think you are required to make runs anywhere you go," Weatherald said. "When someone like Mark Waugh says that, he is probably just stating the obvious, isn't he? I have a good opportunity to play two games hopefully and make runs. If I don't do that I put fate in someone else's hands." Weatherald played county cricket for Leicestershire in a six-game stint in April and May when he made 483 runs at an average of 60.37. The highlight was an unbeaten 103 against Glamorgan. It was a good opportunity to make tweaks to his technique against bowlers who used the English conditions to bowl fuller and target his stumps. "The conditions there were very conducive to improving my technique. That was a great learning curve for me," he said. Since last summer Weatherald said he had made "a few tinkerings" to his technique and approach, while not forsaking the strengths that came to the fore in the Ashes. "It was great to have a prolonged time to work on things I can get better at," he said,. "I have come back feeling ready and not feeling I have changed too much." The opportunity to score runs in Darwin is one that excites not just Weatherald but also the many Territorians who admire him. "I am excited to get out there and put on a bit of a show, which I always try to do, and enjoy it as well," he said. "It is just a big moment for the Territory, being a Territorian player. "I know how big of a deal it is for NT cricket and all the boys and girls come up and say what a big deal it is for them. It is not just for me, but for everyone else." AAP Key Event Bangladesh team Here's the Bangladesh line up. - Tanzid Hasan - Shadman Islam - Mominul Haque - Najmul Hossain Shanto (c) - Mushfiqur Rahim - Litton Das (wk) - Mehidy Hasan Miraz - Taijul Islam - Hasan Mahmud - Taskin Ahmed - Ebadot Hossain 'Nowhere to hide' for Australia's under-fire batters The pressure is on for Australia's underperforming batters, says former Test opener and ABC Sport contributor Ed Cowan. Australia embraces 'unknowns' on Darwin's split-pitch Marrara Stadium curator Jake Pavlich is rightly proud of the drop-in split-pitch Australia and Bangladesh will play on today, as Darwin prepares to host its first Test match in 23 years. The narrow centre square will provide different challenges for the batters in particular, but the split in the middle is nothing for players to fear. "It won't affect the play. It is just a bit of aesthetics," Pavlich explained. "There will be a visible line but it is flat." The split-pitch was first used in Australia in Darwin when Bangladesh was also the visiting Test side in 2003. The pitch is prepared in metal trays in a compound and consists of two 12 metre sections. This is necessary because of the infrastructure underneath the pitch area which Pavlich said consists of "a concrete slab with sand over it". "When it goes into the compound we make sure it is perfectly together so we prepare it as a full-length pitch," Pavlich said. "You do this work for 10 months on a full-length pitch and then you cut it in half and take it out there." The Marrara surface received rave reviews when Australia played South Africa in T20 internationals last year. But the last time a Test was played at the venue was in 2004 against Sri Lanka, when Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath were heading Australia's attack, with Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden opening the batting. Australian allrounder Beau Webster said the team would embrace the "unknowns". "It is a small square, a two-wicket square. Runs square of the wicket are going to be tough when it is digging in to the spongy outfield," Webster said. "We have spoken about running between the wickets where it is a little bit different when you have got a 10-wicket block and the ball races off square of the wicket, so just to be mindful of things like that. "In terms of the surface it is a bit of an unknown to both teams. It is going to be critical on day one to sum it up as quick as we can, and if we are bowling to get the lengths right, and if we are batting feed the information back to the batters." AAP Key Event Australian team: The big four back together as Boland misses out Australia’s big four will play together for the first time since last winter’s tour of the West Indies, with Josh Hazlewood set for his first international cricket since last October. That means Scott Boland, despite his Herculean effort in last summer’s Ashes, moves out of the side. Jake Weatherald, the first Australian Test cricketer from the NT gets a crack on familiar soil after a disappointing debut series against England, while recently crowed Allan Border Medallist Travis Head continues his reinvention as a swashbuckling opener. It’s dual seam-bowling allrounders in the middle order, with Beau Webster and Cam Green at five and seven, allowing for Alex Carey to slot in at No. 5. Steve Smith at No, 4, naturally. Here's captain Pat Cummins explaining his reasoning to ABC Sport. Key Event Australia wins the toss, will bat first Pat Cummins tossed the coin up, Najmul Hossain Shanto called heads, it came down tails, and Cummins said his team will have a bat first. "We've been buzzing, [we've been] waiting for this for a long time," Cummins says. There's 4mm of grass on the pitch, which looks pretty good with an even covering across it. Looks a good pitch to bat first on and, with the short coverage of grass and the sunny hot conditions, it's prime to turn a bit later on. Key Event What time is the first ball in Darwin? Darwin's first Test match in over two decades begins at 10am local time, which is: - 10:30am AEST (NSW, QLD, TAS, ACT) - 10am ACST (NT, SA) - 8:30am AWST (WA) Welcome to cricket! Hello and welcome to the winter of cricket! No, you don't need to adjust your calendars. It is still August; you haven't missed footy finals or Bathurst, and down south the footy posts are still up on the ovals. But in the tropical north, we're getting ready for the first cricket Test of the season, with the Australians taking on Bangladesh in Darwin and, next week, in Mackay. My name is Simon Smale, Henry Hanson is here with me and we will be bringing you this very early-season cricket Test to you across the next few days. So, if you're in the southern states, ignore the wind and rain howling outside your windows and live vicariously through the Top End dry season and settle yourself into the first Test of what is going to be a 20-plus Test 12 months for Australia's men's team.