A scathing column, Steve Waugh's gesture and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

When Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto walks out alongside Australia's Pat Cummins for the toss in Darwin on Saturday, conversations around the opener will centre on conditions, team combinations and perhaps the duration of the Test.

Twenty-three years ago, however, Bangladesh arrived in Australia with a different kind of noise surrounding them.

Ahead of the 2003 series, former Australia batter David Hookes wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that Steve Waugh's side should aim to finish both Tests inside a day, remarks that remain etched in the memory of Bangladesh's then captain Khaled Mahmud.

In his July 12, 2003 column titled Now for a one-day Test, Hookes urged Australia's world champions to humiliate Bangladesh.

"Steve Waugh should send them in to bat, bowl them out before lunch, bat until tea and declare, then send them back in and roll them again before stumps," Hookes said.

"It could be all over in a day," he said.

"Bangladesh doesn't deserve to be in Test cricket and they shouldn't be given any favours out on the field. If the Australian team is being true to the Test cap their aim will be to go out there and annihilate Bangladesh," he added.

Those comments inevitably became a talking point when the two teams met at a get-together before the opening Test in Darwin. What followed, Mahmud recalls, left a far deeper impression than the criticism itself.

"Before the Test series kicked off in Darwin there was a get together and we were having evening tea and while we were standing out at the balcony and chatting among ourselves, out of nowhere Steve Waugh suddenly came over and asked me how am I doing?," Mahmud told Cricbuzz.

"Later he (Waugh) asked, 'Do you guys read the newspapers?' I said, 'Not usually, but sometimes.' He asked, 'Did you read David Hookes comment?' I said, 'Yes, we did.' He told us, 'Don't worry about it. It's just a mad man talking and I believe you are a much better team than that and you'll play well against us. I wish you all the best,'" he said.

Mahmud says the gesture has stayed with him ever since.

"When the captain of the opposing team says something like that, it naturally really boosts your confidence and you start to respect him even more," he said.

The Bangladesh skipper had also expected Australia to be relentless with their sledging. Instead, he encountered a side that was uncompromising in its cricket but respectful in its conduct.

"We heard the Australians sledge a lot but we didn't see any of it on the field. Steve Waugh's team didn't go anywhere near sledging. Even against a weak and inexperienced team like ours, their approach and application was 100% professional. They didn't bowl any loose deliveries - full toss, half volley, over pitched or short of length. They played with a 100% professional approach," said Mahmud.

"They played like they always do. Very nice approach and professional. They bowled with a plan and by using their brain. Leg-spinner MacGill bowled three of his customary deliveries before dishing out a googly, and we were totally unfamiliar with it," he added.

Stuart MacGill finished as player of the series with 17 wickets as Australia swept the two-Test series, but Mahmud says the lessons extended well beyond what happened on the field. One memory, in particular, still frustrates him.

"Steve Waugh said, 'Khaled, after the game you and your team come to our (Australia) dressing room.' I said in reply, 'Okay, I am telling this to my team' and I called the entire team by indicating it through my hand," said Mahmud.

"At one stage all of us visited the Australian dressing room. The Australians literally welcomed us, even though Steve Waugh was talking at that time in the press meet. The Aussie cricketers gave us a warm welcome. When we were talking with Gilchrist, all of a sudden I noticed a hand on my back. It was the Australian captain Steve Waugh! He said to me, 'Where are the other members of your team?' I looked behind and noticed none were there. Everyone had already boarded the team bus. Then Ashraful and I made our way to the team bus," he said.

"Upon entering the bus we saw manager Latif bhai (Latifur Rahman, team manager) sitting down. He shouted at both Ashraful and myself, 'What's the matter, why are you both late? We are all waiting for you inside the bus.' I got angry after that. I said, 'Latif bhai, a full-strength Test team is playing. The captain of that side invited me and the entire team. The cricketers of the two teams would talk amongst each other. We will get to hear stories of different games from them. Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, McGrath and MacGill, we will share our experiences with them. And yet here you are calling us hurriedly,'" he said.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us to talk for one and a half or two hours with legendary cricketers of team Australia, and we lost this opportunity. Actually since he (Latif) was a non-cricketing personality, he couldn't comprehend what I had said. I got angry. I said to him (Latif), 'A great cricketer like Steve Waugh wanted to talk with us, called us to their dressing room to exchange views and share experiences, without understanding you are shouting at us for being late for the team hotel. You didn't do the right thing,'" he said.

"Then we went to Cairns to play the next Test. The same thing happened. Steve Waugh again said, 'Will you guys come to our dressing room? Or will we go to your dressing room?' I said, 'No, no, we will come'. We had a long chat with the Australian cricketers, talked a lot. We exchanged our caps, took pictures, Justin Langer posed for a photograph wearing our red-green cap of Bangladesh. Some of us had the Australia cap on. They gave us a lot of courage. Told us good things. To get a warm welcome from that team was a big thing for us. We felt really good," he added.

Mahmud believes the gulf between the two sides has narrowed considerably since then. Bangladesh famously beat Australia in Dhaka in 2017 and have since picked up memorable overseas Test wins, including one in New Zealand.

"I think during our visit to Australia they were 100 and we were 10 but now times have changed and we can surely compete with them," he said.

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