Steve Waugh says his Australian cricket team aims to "put on a good show" at its new Test venue when it plays Bangladesh in Darwin this week.

Waugh flew in to Darwin unmoved by critics of the two-Test series between the top and bottom ranked sides who have predicted all sorts of records will tumble.

Former Test batsman David Hookes said last week Bangladesh didn't deserve to be in Test cricket and urged the Australians to try to win the first Test, starting Friday, within one day.

Bookies are offering odds of 17-1 on that happening.

But Waugh said speculation about how long the match would run was "more a problem for the media".

"It's exciting, it's a new venue for us all, we've never played Bangladesh in a Test before, in a Test series, so we're looking forward to the challenge of playing up here," Waugh said.

"At this stage of Bangladesh's experience to play against the supposed top five in world cricket is important."

Waugh was pleased Bangladesh managed a second consecutive morale-boosting victory on Sunday when it beat an NT Chief Minister's XI by two wickets following its narrow win over the Australian Cricket Academy.

"It's good to see," said Waugh. "Emerging sides, they need a lot of match practice. They've played a couple of good games and I'm sure their form is okay.

"We haven't played much cricket in the last four or five weeks so it should be a good contest.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP