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Pat Cummins looked shell-shocked as he sat down for the post-match press conference at Marrara Stadium. He's experienced losing Tests as captain before, albeit only nine times out of 39. He's experienced shock defeats at home before, too, including against West Indies at the Gabba in 2024. But this loss to Bangladesh is different. An Australia team that was full strength, that had won 11 of their last 13 Tests, was top of the World Test Championship table having made the last two finals, wasn't just beaten, they were humiliated. They were thrashed by an opposition that had not been invited to play a Test in Australia for 23 years. A nation that had one win in 26 attempts in SENA countries in their history. A team that had lost their last Test in Zimbabwe by an innings inside three days. And a team that had lost to a Cricket Australia XI in Darwin last weekend by an innings, with Australia's third-choice offspinner taking six wickets on day one and eight for the match, a batter discarded by Western Australia scoring 130, and a seam bowler with one first-class appearance to his name taking 8 for 25. "They deserved the win," Cummins said. "They were a much better side than us this week. I thought they outplayed us in all facets, really. They were really patient. Just didn't really let us back in. Held onto their catches. "No Test match loss feels great. I think the standards we hold is a bit higher than what we played this week." That's what makes this different to the West Indies defeat two years ago. On that occasion they needed just 103 runs to win eight wickets in hand, with Steven Smith and Cameron Green set, only for Shamar Joseph to take 7 for 68 in one of the greatest spells ever in Australia. That loss was an aberration in the middle of a summer of six wins out of seven, after they had won the WTC and retained the Ashes away. They went on to beat India at home later in the year. They have beaten New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies away without drawing a game let alone losing one. They lost a one-off WTC final to South Africa, which was a surprise but not a comprehensive drubbing. They then thumped England on home soil 4-1. In time to come, this loss could be seen as an aberration, too, in that context. Selectors, coaches and players have credits in the bank, although they may be running low for some. Bangladesh opened up the cracks that England talked about but could not expose. Disciplined new-ball bowling unravelled a shaky top order that is fighting long-term technical and temperamental challenges. Disciplined old-school Test batting put 138 overs into an ageing attack. Australia's highly regarded catching team also grassed five chances. Then an offspinner who averaged 69.10 in eight Tests in South Africa and New Zealand, took 5 for 66 to out bowl Nathan Lyon who has 274 of his 568 Test wickets in home conditions. Australia's batters as a collective scored 482 runs for the loss of 20 wickets across two innings in a home Test while Bangladesh posted 426 in one against the only attack in Test history to boast four bowlers with 300 Test wickets or more. Cummins' attention in the aftermath fell on the batting group. Green's excellent century has removed the immediate pressure on him albeit it still may not satisfy some supporters despite how well he played. It is noteworthy that Australia's youngster batter, aged 27, and Bangladesh's youngest batter, aged 25, were the only two players to score centuries in the match. There will be clear pressure on Marnus Labuschagne and Jake Weatherald who had made a lot of their technical changes in the lead up to the game and neither man passed 31 in the match The question is, having backed those two in at the start of the 20-Test odyssey with a long-term view on bedding them down, do Australia stick or twist after one shocking defeat. It's one Cummins wrestled with in front of a room full of journalists. "I think it's pretty clear it's not quite functioning as well as we'd like as a group," Cummins said. "I think it's a balance of, it's one Test but it's also a little bit of a trend as well. So it's trying to work out, do you need to intervene now or do you let it play out and you think it's the way forward? "So I think that's the question over the next couple days that we'll sit down and have a think. The selectors will have a think. Is there something there that's going to take us forward, or is it something starting to become a trend that we think needs to be changed?" Where they turn if change is required is another question. Australia's coaching staff met with state coaches in Brisbane only a fortnight ago to discuss the dearth of young batters plundering runs at domestic level. The question of preparation will also rear its head in the aftermath. Images of Australia's players walking down the fairway at Darwin Golf Club while Bangladesh trained in the adjacent nets that ran along the fence line of the 13th hole spread far and wide, and the symbolism will only be highlighted further after a shambolic week. The reality is Australia's preparation was no different than normal. If anything, they had spent more time in training camps in Brisbane in the lead-in to a Test match after a long break than they had in the past. "I thought our preparation was really excellent," Cummins said. "We spent six weeks or so up in Brisbane. I thought we pretty much got that bang on." Whether the attention to detail on their opponents and the conditions was there is another question. Cummins denied they had taken Bangladesh lightly, but various comments were made about not knowing much about their opponents despite none of them being complete newcomers to international cricket. Even Tanzid Hasan, playing just his second Test, has played 93 white-ball internationals for his country including six against Australia less than two months ago. Three of Australia's last four defeats in the last two years have come in the first Test back after months' long lay-offs between series. There have been different lead-ins each time with white-ball and franchise commitments part of the preparation challenge. They are an ageing group that have a habit of starting slow and finishing strong. They only have one Test to finish strong in this series and plenty of challenges to come that are supposedly tougher than the Bangladesh one that dismantled them in Darwin. Beating the visitors in Mackay will be hard enough before South Africa, New Zealand, India and England can even be contemplated. There is much to ponder for Australia's leaders over the next five days. They are under enormous pressure to avoid a further disaster.