Scores Upcoming Results
13-Apr-2011 04:42:00 GMT
Bangladesh v Australia, 3rd ODI, Mirpur

Ban vs Aus 3rd ODI Bangladesh Played For Pride

Mirpur: Bangladesh will go into the third one-day international against Australia 2-0 down with the series already lost.

They are likely to still be struggling with the image of an unstoppable Shane Watson slogging a world-record 15 sixes en route to an unbeaten 185 Australia's highest individual score in one-day cricket.

Despite winning the toss in both matches, it would appear to matter little what Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan chooses to do.

In the series opener Shakib put Australia in to bat.

The tourists reached 270 before restricting Bangladesh's chase to win by 60 runs.

Next the hosts' skipper chose to bat first, posting a total of 229.

While admittedly below par, it still appeared enough to challenge the visitors.

But Bangladesh did not reckon with Watson producing a career-best innings.

The vice-captain raced to his century in just 69 balls, eventually bringing up 185 in 113 minutes off just 96 balls in total.

His devastating knock comprised 79.7 percent of Australia's total - a new record in ODIs - and included four consecutive sixes off the unfortunate Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Surely the only thing more demoralising than the ease of Watson's demolition job was the casual motivation behind his onslaught.

"I got to a point where I got pretty tired, it was hot and humid out there so I didn't really want to have to run too much," Watson said.

I was either going to try to hit as many sixes as I could, or get out, because I was pretty tired, that was as simple as it was.

Bangladesh can only hope to restore a measure of pride with a more competitive display in the final match.

New Australia captain Michael Clarke has already secured a series victory in his first outing as permanent skipper and will look to make it a clean sweep in Wednesday's match.

It seems pointless for Bangladesh to take in the same XI after the thrashing on Monday, but who makes way is anyone's guess. Raqibul Hasan has offered little during this series, and Alok Kapali would be the logical swap for him, unless they want to blood the young uncapped batsman Shuvagoto Hom. Including Rubel Hossain didn't work on Monday, so Mashrafe Mortaza could be back in the mix.

Teams from

Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Abdur Razzak, Alok Kapali, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Raqibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Shuvagoto Hom, Suhrawadi Shuvo

Australia MJ Clarke (capt), SR Watson, XJ Doherty, CJ Ferguson, BJ Haddin (wk), JW Hastings, MEK Hussey, MG Johnson, B Lee, TD Paine (wk), JL Pattinson, RT Ponting, SPD Smith, CL White

Pitch and conditions
Both teams know the conditions well after playing two matches at the venue within three days. However, the third match is the only day-night contest in the series, which could make dew a factor as the evening goes on. The forecast for Wednesday is sunny with a top of 35C.

Stats and trivia

  • Shane Watson broke all kinds of records on Monday, including the greatest strike-rate among all 150-plus innings in ODI history.
  • Suhrawadi Shuvo's figures of 3-0-46-0 on Monday gave him the third-worst economy rate of all time in an ODI, among bowlers who have sent down at least three overs in an innings. Dolar Mahmud holds the record with 3-0-49-0 against Sri Lanka in 2008, and Sreesanth is second with 3-0-48-0, also against Sri Lanka in 2008.
  • If Bangladesh happen to win the final match, they will jump above West Indies on the ODI rankings

Match facts
Wednesday April 13, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 14:00 local (0800 GMT)


Scores Upcoming Results
Related links

Top