Australia set mammoth target for Tigers


FE Team | Published: June 20, 2019 20:34:44 | Updated: June 21, 2019 19:31:42


Australia set mammoth target for Tigers

Defending world champions Australia posted a massive total of 381 for five in the ICC World Cup match against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Bangladesh conceded as many or more runs in the World Cup for another time (386 against England on June 8). 

Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. David Warner was the main man behind this mammoth total. He struck 166 which is now the highest individual score in this World Cup.

However, the Aussie opener got the lease of life once when he was batting on 10 as Sabbir Rahman missed a catch at point.

Australia managed a brisk start as their openers laid down a solid platform at the start of their innings adding 100 runs in just 100 balls. Along the way, Warner hit fifty off 55 balls with four fours and two sixes.

Bangladesh missed the service of Mohammad Saifuddin who had been doing well but a back injury forced him out of the action. Rubel Hossain was named in the playing XI to replace him. But the right-arm pacer failed to manage an early breakthrough.

So were the other bowlers as Mashrafe Bin Mortaza conceded 31 runs in his first six overs, Mustafizur Rahman gave away 21 runs in his first four overs and Shakib Al Hasan conceded 24 runs in his first three overs.

Mashrafe gave the ball to Soumya Sarkar as his sixth bowling option. The right-arm medium pacer took the wicket of Aaron Finch. Australian captain went to clear Soumya through third man but Rubel was there to take an easy catch.

Australian opening pair was broken after putting up 121 runs in the first wicket stand as Finch fell for 53 with five fours and two sixes.

However, breaking the first wicket stand of Australia did not help Bangladesh much as in the second wicket stand, Usman Khawaja and Warner added 192 runs off 141 deliveries, which is now the biggest stand of this World Cup so far.

Soumya broke the second wicket stand as well trapping Warner in the third man area where Rubel took another catch. Warner fell for 166 off 147 with 14 fours and five sixes.

After Warner’s removal, Glenn Maxwell came in and added 32 off just 10 balls with two fours and three sixes. He was removed by Rubel who shattered his stumps by direct through from the fine leg area. 

Soumya took his third wicket removing Usman for 89 off 72 with 10 fours. Usman prodded a catch to the wicketkeeper to get dismissed.

After the play of 49 overs, rain came in and the match hanged for 24 minutes when Australia were at 368 for five. In the last over, they added 13 more runs and ended up on 381 for five wickets in 50 overs.

For Bangladesh, Soumya took three wickets for 58 runs while Mustafizur took one wicket for 69 runs.

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