Australia to assert Twenty20 supremacy over Bangladesh
Australia could be without Mitchell Johnson for their World Twenty20 group match against Bangladesh as the fast bowler is likely to be rested in a bid to aid his recovery from an elbow infection.
It’s a blow, but not one that should impact Australia’s chances of winning the match against the cricketing minnows.
It’s a testament to the depth of Australia’s fast bowling stocks that even without Johnson in the side for the match, they can field a bowling attack that even without the strike bowler among its number still has an imposing air about it. And that’s without the injured Brett Lee too.
Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes and in all likelihood Lee’s replacement, Ryan Harris, should form an intimidating fast-bowling attack against a Bangladesh side that does feature some talented batsmen, opener Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, and skipper Shakib Al Hasan chief among them.
The degree of difficulty for Bangladesh will also be ratcheted up a notch on what should be a pacier pitch at Kensington Oval than we’ve so far seen at St Lucia and Guyana, conditions that should play right into the Australians’ hands.
While the Bridgetown pitch is expected to be quicker than those at the other World Twenty20 grounds, it is also expected to turn, and with a wealth of spinners at their disposal, Bangladesh will be looking to exploit that aspect of the surface and force Australia to find a way to generate some of their own pace to score against the slower bowlers.
The luxury Australia has is that even if a couple of their batsmen fail against the Bangladesh spinners, they’ve got the depth to cover for them.
Opener Shane Watson created the biggest headache for Pakistan in their group match against Australia with 81 from 49 deliveries, while David Hussey made 53 runs of his own, but even if that pair have leaner returns this time around, there’s every chance at least two or three of David Warner, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Brad Haddin and skipper Michael Clarke will take command out in the middle.
For Bangladesh, an opening group stage loss against Pakistan and a net run-rate of -1.05 means that not only would they need to win this match to progress to the Super Eight stage, but they would need to win big.
And that’s a near impossible task against a side that is currently rated as the best One Day International outfit in the world, and one which also appears to have the depth and balance to add a first World Twenty20 prize to their already bulging trophy cabinet.
Tags: