Australia’s tour of Bangladesh – Review – Part 4
The Bangladeshi batsmen had put in a decent performance with the bat in the first match against the Australians, yet the pace at which they went about their innings was far too slow and in the end the home side ended up losing the first One Day International by a margin of 60 runs.
For his marvellous century with the bat on his first match as captain, Michael Clarke picked up the Man of the Match award, and deservedly so. The Australian innings was pretty much built around the Australian skipper, and his 101 runs were what put the target just outside the reach of the Bangladesh team.
The first match was a case of Australia’s strength in the depth of their batting line-up coming up trumps against the Bangladeshi team’s lack lustre bowling in the first innings. Followed by a valiant, albeit slow, batting performance by the Bangladeshi batsmen against a well disciplined Australian bowling attack.
The home side knew they had to improve in both departments, with both bat and ball, if they wanted to level series as the series headed into the:
Second ODI – Watson’s vicious attack on the crowd
Bangladesh and Australia met on the same venue, the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, for the second ODI as Australia looked to wrap up a series win and Bangladesh hoped to tie it at 1-1.
Winning the toss the Bangladeshi Captain, Shakib Al Hasan decided to bat first as they looked to reverse the roles each side had to play.
The side with the home advantage looked to their opening batting pair of in-form Tamim Iqbal, who top scored for his side in the earlier clash and Imrul Kayes to get off to a good start. What happened instead was the exact opposite.
Danger-man Tamim Iqbal fell in just the second over for a meagre five runs to the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. Iqbal’s shot found the hands of Shane Watson who living up to his high standards in the field made no mistake with the catch.
Kayes continued to struggle with the bat as he crawled to five runs from 41 deliveries before Johnson took his second wicket in similar fashion to the first, to end both Kayes’ and the bored crowd’s misery.
When Raqibul Hasan’s wicket fell just four deliveries later, the Bangladeshi side were in serious trouble. At 28 runs for the cost of three wickets, it was crucial that Bangladesh did not panic and Shahriar Nafees was providing some stability with a sensible knock, as Captain Shakib Al Hasan looked to inspire his side with the bat.
Steve Smith though had other ideas and the Bangladeshi skipper made his way back to the pavilion after failing to fire and struggling to a lowly 10 run score in 23 deliveries.
The Australians were in control, but the Bangladeshi batsmen were resilient as Shahriar Nafees fought well for his half century. The only top order batsman to reach double figures, Nafees was so far the only reason for the home crowd to cheer.
One could imagine the crowd’s disappointment then, when Nafees was caught and bowled by Stephen Smith on the last delivery of the 27th over. His knock of 56 runs from 73 deliveries was the best from his side in the innings so far, yet there was more to come from the Bangladeshi side.
Continued in Australia’s tour of Bangladesh – Review – Part 5
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