LIVE – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 – 20 over Match Report
Australia 106/3 (RR: 5.30), CL While: 6*, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MJ-Clarke-c1978: 13*
With Bangladesh skipper, Shakib Al http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990, winning the toss and electing to field, the Aussies were put in to bat first.
Michael Clarke shared that the Aussies were up to full-strength and would have chosen to bat first anyways.
Bangladesh struck gold early on with the important wicket of Brad Haddin in the 4th over. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mashrafe-Mortaza-c1917 cleverly beat Haddin at his own game, halting Australia at 14-runs with one wicket down as Ricky Ponting walked on the field. The over also
saw the run-rate drop to 4.00.
Ricky Ponting lifted the run-rate, hitting 4 fours in 2 overs (3 consecutive off Mashrafe). With the run-rate climbing to 6.00, Mashrafe took a beating off Watson as well (a four and a six) in the 8th over.
The hitting continued until the 10th over when Australia was 76/1 with a run-rate of 7.60. It was the 12th over, which saw Ponting’s untimely departure. Ponting was run-out as Suhrawadi Shuvo took the bails off to punish some lazy and
careless running between the wickets.
Michael Clarke stepped out as Ponting walked back but little did he know that Watson will be deserting him sooner than he would have liked.
The 14th over saw Watson being trapped leg before wicket (lbw) by Abdur Razzak. As Razzak went up, so did the umpire’s finger, sending Watson back to the pavilion for 37-runs off 32-balls.
The run-rate, which was just above seven when Ponting was dismissed, fell a shade below seven at the time of Watson’s dismissal, and kept coming down in the overs to follow.
At the end of 20-overs, Australia was three wickets down with an average of 5.30.
Cameron White was at the crease, failing to support Michael Clarke (or himself, for that matter), scoring only 6 runs off 24 balls, and seemed to be struggling.
Bangladesh on the other hand can pat themselves on the back but not rest on their laurels. The early breakthroughs are to be commended but the Australian line-up still has Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson to follow Clarke and White.
Shakib Al Hasan has bowled nicely, keeping the run-rate under control, Mashrafe was taken for a ride by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 and Ponting early on but he did break-through early by getting Haddin.
Abdur Razzak has been fairly economical, having bowled the highest number of overs (seven) so far and scalping the very dangerous, Shane Watson.
The Bengali tigers should now look to utilize the early fall of wickets to their advantage. Their fielding will now be very crucial, if they can successfully increase and maintain the pressure they have built so far, Australia can be limited to a reachable
target.
Australia, on the other hand, will look to stabilize their innings right now, reeling from early losses they would be looking to post a decent total, and, unleash Bret http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lee-c72382, Hastings and Johnson, in a bid to crush the Bengali batting line-up.
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