Wade elects to bowl, first T20 not broadcast in Australia

SCORECARD: Bangladesh v Australia, first T20

New Australia captain Matthew Wade has won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening T20 International against Bangladesh in Dhaka, which is not being broadcast on Australian television.

A standoff between the Bangladesh rights holders and Australian broadcasters has led to the opening match of the five-game series being unavailable to watch in Australia.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board sold its broadcast rights to BanTech, a marketing agency, in May this year in a two-year deal reported in local media to be worth about US19m. BanTech then sublicenses those rights to broadcasters, both in Bangladesh and abroad.

But it's understood negotiations with Australian broadcasters – including Foxtel and free-to-air broadcasters – broke down and a deal could not be struck ahead of the first match of the series.

While the series is available to viewers outside Australia on YouTube, the rights holders have instructed the RabbitholeBD channel that regularly streams Bangladesh cricket matches to black out the Australian market.

The process of securing rights for matches that Australian teams play abroad is independent of Cricket Australia and is negotiated directly between the rights holder and broadcasters.

As the host board, the Bangladesh Cricket Board owns the rights to the series, and it is their product to sell to broadcasters.

Cricket.com.au will have live scores, match highlights as well as exclusive news and videos from our team in Dhaka, the only Australian media who are on the ground covering the series.

Alex Carey, one of two vice-captains named for this series along with Moises Henriques, has been listed to open the batting with the Aussies making three changes to their side from their most recent T20 against the West Indies in St Lucia last month.

Australia have reverted back to the five-bowler, six-batter balance favoured by coach Justin Langer, with Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner and Ashton Agar all back in the side.

Injured captain Aaron Finch, who has returned home to undergo surgery on his knee, has made way along with Mitchell Swepson and Jason Behrendorff.

Bangladesh are without senior players Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal, with allrounder Shakib al-Hasan and left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman looming as their key men.

If the entire series is not shown in Australia, it will be the first time since the 1994 tour of Pakistan that an entire Australian men's series has not been broadcast.

There have been more recent one-off instances, such as the 2018 T20 against the UAE. Originally set down as a practice match before a series against Pakistan and played on Abu Dhabi's nursery ground, the two nations agreed to make it a fully fledged international at the last minute.

Although not broadcast, there was short highlights package available on cricket.com.au.

Likewise, fans in Australia were unable to watch a match against Ireland when South Africa played host to an ODI in 2016, and also in mid-2013 when Australians missed seeing a 246-run opening stand between Shaun Marsh (151) and Aaron Finch (147) in a one-off match against Scotland in Edinburgh.

Bangladesh XI: Mohammad Naim, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah (c), Nurul Hasan (wk), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed

Australia XI: Josh Philippe, Alex Carey (vc), Mitch Marsh, Moises Henriques (vc), Matthew Wade (c/wk), Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Mitch Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

Qantas Tour of Bangladesh 2021

Australia squad: Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade (c), Adam Zampa. Travelling reserve: Tanveer Sangha.

Bangladesh squad: Mahmudullah (c), Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Shaif Uddin, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Taijul Islam, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Rubel Hossain

(all matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka)

First T20: August 3, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Second T20: August 4, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Third T20: August 6, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Fourth T20: August 7, 6pm (10pm AEST)

Fifth T20: August 9, 6pm (10pm AEST)