<|endoftext|> for sure."
We didn't learn from mistakes: Smith
Handscomb, who posted scores of 33 and 15 in Dhaka, said earlier this month he was open to the possibility of taking the gloves if called upon, but stressed that he was a batsman first and a gloveman second.
The Victorian, who has frustratingly posted scores between 15 and 33 eight times in his past 10 Test knocks, said his main focus was on scoring runs as a specialist batsman.
QUICK SINGLE Handscomb reaps reward of busy winter
"It's an interesting one," Handscomb said of how he viewed the role of wicketkeeper in his skillset. "I was doing some white-ball keeping for Yorkshire in England (this year) as well.
"Ultimately I'm happy to do it if it's good for team balance, if it opens up a position for another bowler or batter to come into the side.
Handscomb took the gloves in Australia's practice match in Darwin // Getty
"But first and foremost I've always said that batting is my number one (priority), and 'keeping plays second fiddle."
Australia will make at least one change to their XI for the second Test, with Josh Hazlewood already ruled out due to a side injury. Spinners Steve O��Keefe and Mitchell Swepson, quick Jackson Bird and Cartwright are the four players in the squad hoping to force their way into the side for the match in Chittagong.
Australia in Bangladesh 2017
Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Steve O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.
Bangladesh squad: Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Liton Das, Taskin Ahmed, Shafiul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taijul Islam, Mominul Haque.
27-31 August First Test, Dhaka, Bangladesh won by 20 runs
4-8 September Second Test, Chittagong<|endoftext|>WITH a weak opposition, an election in the bag and buoyant approval ratings, the government of Shinzo Abe, Japan��s prime minister, would hardly seem to have much to fight against. Yet it is waging an increasingly heavy-handed campaign to intimidate the media. Even pro-government journalists are crying foul.
Discreet interventions by politicians have long been customary. But bullying recently broke into the open when a bureaucrat turned political gadfly, Shigeaki Koga, accused the government on a television show of strong-arming the media by securing his removal from ��Hodo Station��, a news show owned by TV Asahi, a liberal broadcaster. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) promptly proved Mr Koga��s point by grilling the programme��s producers over the outburst under the auspices of Japan��s broadcast law.
Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
That brought the LDP close to overstepping the law��s guarantees of freedom of expression, media scholars say. Other recent cases of muzzling the media include thinly veiled threats over broadcasters�� licences. Last autumn the LDP demanded fair and neutral reporting on the snap general election in December. Many Japanese thought the election a waste of time and money. Television channels cut back their coverage. Not coincidentally LDP—which is able to get out its core voters and does better on low turnouts—won easily.
Mr Abe has objected to television interviews in which ordinary people say that his economic schemes are not helping them, though such a perception is common. Personnel changes at Japan��s main broadcasters are now routinely rumoured to be down to government pressure. Even foreign journalists complain that diplomats try to steer their reporting.
The long-term aim may be a broad reshaping of the media. While the LDP was out of office in 2009-12, it blamed the media for its humbling by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Today Mr Abe��s cherished aim is to revise Japan��s constitution, written seven decades ago by the Americans, in which Japan renounces war as a sovereign right. Shifting the public away from its deeply held pacifism would require broad media backing, or at least for criticism to be muted.
A particular target is NHK, the state broadcaster. The government also summoned executives from ��Close-up Gendai��, a hard-hitting current-affairs programme, to