BAN vs AUS, 1st ODI: Bangladesh cricket team have comprehensively outplayed Australia in the first of the three ODIs on June 9, Tuesday at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur to register an 86-run victory and take a 1-0 lead. Nahid Rana bowled a fiery spell to take four wickets to neutralise Australia’s fightback after Mosaddek Hossain registered a brisk half-century to set the tourists an imposing a target of 284 runs.
BAN vs AUS, 1st ODI: When did Bangladesh last beat Australia in a 50-overs international?
It was in 2005 at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff that Bangladesh had last beaten Australia. Back then, Australia were a star-studded team that had the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn, Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Jason Gillespie and Glenn McGrath, with the charismatic and the dynamic Ricky Ponting as captain. After restricting the Men in Yellow to 249 in their stipulated 50 overs, a young Mohammad Ashraful struck a 101-ball 100 to carry Bangladesh to victory in the final over of the game with five wickets to spare.
Since then, Australia have won every ODI, while the fixture in the 2017 Champions Trophy final ended in no result.
BAN vs AUS, 1st ODI: Australia wilt in the face of challenging Bangladeshi outfit and tricky conditions
With Australia coming off from an ODI series loss in Pakistan, they were subject to trial by spin even further. In pursuit of 285, Matt Short perished in the very first ball of the innings, while Marnus Labuschagne’s struggles continued, departing for another single-figure score. Josh Inglis and Cooper Connolly withstood the storm to a certain extent to build a worthy stand until Nahid Rana struck to remove the former for 19. Rana bowled serious wheels and got rid of Alex Carey (47), debutant Liam Scott (2) and Xavier Bartlett (2) too to rattle the visiting side.
Amid Connolly’s and Carey’s fighting knocks, Cameron Green was the only Aussie batter to score a fifty as he battled to prevent Australia’s loss by more than 100 runs. When Australia were 191/9, showers intervened and the home side were way ahead of the DLS target. They eventually won by 86 runs to take a series lead.
Earlier, Tanzid Hasan (54), Najmul Hossain Shanto (67) and Hossain (86) struck half-centuries to propel Bangladesh to a match-winning score.
