Australia’s tour of Bangladesh – Review – Part 5
At 88 runs for the loss of five wickets the Bangladeshi team were struggling against a well discipline and quite frankly, devastating Australian bowling line-up. The only batsmen to pose a threat to the Australians was Shahriar Nafees and he had been dismissed
and sent back to the pavilion, as half the Bangladeshi team had been dismissed.
Things were not looking too bright for the Bangladeshi team as the Australian bowlers looked to wrap up the innings as quickly as possible.
Bangladeshi wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim and fellow batsman Mahmudullah had other ideas, as the pair combined for a crucial 79 run partnership. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahmudullah-c1877 was dismissed for 38 runs when he was trapped leg before wicket by Shane Watson in the 44th
over.
Yet the partnership had done its job as the Bangladeshi side were now at a more respectable score of 167 runs for the loss of six wickets. Wicket-keeper Rahim was still going strong and reached his half century not long after on his way to an unbeaten 81
run knock.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Suhrawadi-Shuvo-c2598 contributed a useful 16 runs before he became Australian bowler Mitchell Johnson’s third wicket of the match.
In the end the Bangladeshi team knew they were on shaky ground as 229 runs was a tough total to protect against a formidable Australian batting line-up.
Apart from the heroics of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahriar-Nafees-c2486, with some support from Mahmudullah the Bangladeshi batsmen on the whole were poor. Had the top order gotten going the 230 target could have been much more.
One should not take anything away from the Australian bowlers though as although they did not take as many wickets as they would have liked, they managed to restrict the run rate very effectively. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mitchell-c76390 Johnson was the most expensive bowler for his side
costing an average of 5.40 runs per over, but his haul of three wickets more than made up for it.
On the whole the Bangladeshi team owed a great deal to their lower order for rescuing some pride in an otherwise hapless performance. Something the Bangladeshi bowlers would have hoped not to replicate when it was their turn to bowl in the second innings
with the series on the line.
What followed will go down in history as one of the most aggressive and devastating batting performances in history from an Australian opening batsman, Shane Watson. To put things in perspective Watson’s opening partner was Brad Haddin, who was dismissed
by Bangladeshi Captain Shakib Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990 for just 8 runs.
The next man in Ricky Ponting made 37 runs and there were only two extras in the 26 overs the match lasted. When one adds all these figures together it sums up to a total of 47 runs. The remaining 185 runs out of the 232 run score the Australians put up
were all from the bat of Shane Watson.
Not only that, the knock included 15 fours and 15 sixes! A record in the game of cricket when it comes to most sixes hit in an innings. The performance was electrifying though on 15 occasions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 had the crowd ducking for cover, as ball after ball sailed
over the ropes and at the crowd.
Continued in Australia’s tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 – Review – Part 6
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