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Key events
6th over: Bangladesh 39-1 (Litton 13, Naimul 18): Pat Cummins comes into the attack for the final over of the powerplay and starts with a wide wicket. Naimul lifts a ball off his pads and away to deep mid-on for a boundary, then only has to bend under a wild delivery from Cummins that eludes the outstretched arm of keeper Wade to race for five wides. Australia allowed Bangladesh to climb the ropes a bit there, with 22 off the last two overs as they finished the powerplay at 39-1.
5th over Bangladesh 27-1 (Lytton 12, Naimul 13): Lytton brings up his first boundary of the innings with a great shot even after Starc knocks the ball to a good length. The opener follows with a smash through cover for two, then a thick edge that narrowly eludes Warner standing deep behind but races on for four to make it 10 from the over.
4th over Bangladesh 17-1 (Litton 2, Naimul 13): SIX! Naimul opens with the knock of the day so far, dancing down the wicket and hitting Hazlewood back over his head for a remarkable maximum. But the Australian quick has Liton Das under his thumb as the right-hander must turn to finding creative ways to try and get Hazlewood out. The Bangladesh opener gets a leg bye from a delivery that crashes into him, but otherwise struggles with two runs from 12 straight balls.
3rd over: Bangladesh 8-1 (Litton 1, Naimul 6): Mitchell Starc’s typical highs and lows are on display as he starts the match with a wicket in the opener, then follows it up with what can only be described as a loose one to start his second game. Bangladesh find some easy singles then give Australia half a chance to run away from the final delivery but Najmul heads home at the man’s end.
2nd over: Bangladesh 4-1 (Lytton 0, Naimul 4): After six balls from Starc, mixing his line and length, Josh Hazlewood does the opposite as the right-hander immediately finds and sticks to his preferred spot just outside the off-stump. Girl by Liton Das.
1st over: Bangladesh 4-1 (Lytton 0, Naimul 4): Mitchell Starc gave Australia a dream start with the early wicket of Tanzid Hasan, then tested Bangladesh captain Naimul Hossain Shanto with a trademark yorker. Naimul bowls the last ball of the over to the boundary to get his side off the mark.
VARITKA! Bangladesh 0-1 (Thanzid b Starc 0)
Mitchell Starc bowled the ball at an awkward length and Tanzeed Hasan is unsure whether to play forward or backward. The Bangladesh opener picks the second and it turns out to be a mistake as the ball crashes into the stumps.
There was a brief rain delay, then a light rendition of the Bangladesh National Anthem, which didn’t go unnoticed by Showbizguru:
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the national anthem of Bangladesh, but was this the special collector’s vinyl edition with extended play? Either way it bloomed amazingly.”
“But is it the longest national anthem?”
One to ponder over the next few hours. But for now, Mitchell Starc is throwing the new ball between his hands and that’s it The game begins!
Bangladesh XI
Tanzeed Hasan, Liton Das (wk), Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Towheed Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan, Tanzeem Shakib, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman.
One change for Bangladesh as Mahedi Hasan comes into the XI in place of Jacker Ali.
Australia XI
David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.
Australia backed their star trio to get the job done even in a deck expected to take a lot of rotation, with Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the XI at the expense of Nathan Ellis and Ashton Agar.
Australia win the toss and elect to play
Mitch Marsh calls correctly and Australia will bat first at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
In the 18 T20Is that have been played at the venue, 11 have been won by the team batting first. I’m not sure the slim margin points to being the deciding factor today, but it can’t hurt Bangladesh as they look to beat Australia for the first time in an ICC event.
“Looks a decent wicket, I don’t think it will change much after the 40 overs,” Marsh said after winning the toss.
“It’s good to get used to the conditions a bit, we played one game here. As tournament play gets deeper and deeper and the tension builds, it all comes down to being true to yourself.”
Naimul Hossain Shanto says Bangladesh would have bowled first too, but now it all depends on their batting line-up to determine a competitive total.
“As a batting group, we have to do something special in the Super Eight,” Naimul Hossain Shanto said. “Looks like a good door.
The covers are off and we wait for Mitch Marsh and Naimul Hossain Shanto to reach the middle for the draw and team news.
While you wait, catch up on where we stand in Group 1 after all teams started the Super Eight stage with a clean slate with match highlights from Afghanistan vs India earlier today:
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It started raining moments before the captains took to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium for the draw.
Ricky Ponting is battling the elements without an umbrella in the middle of the park and the Aussie side continues to heat up so hopefully we won’t be too far away.
Forms Guide
While Australia cruised through the group stage unbeaten, Bangladesh also got off to a flying start with a tense two-wicket victory over bitter rivals Sri Lanka, minimal defeat by South Africathen convincing wins against the Netherlands and Nepal.
It has been a quick – and somewhat surprising – turnaround since Naemul Hossain Shanto’s side suffered a 2-1 T20 series defeat by the USA in Houston last month. However, their skipper has some runs to go after scoring just 26 in four knocks in this tournament.
If Najmul misses out again, it is not clear which Bangladesh player can step up as no one has yet scored 100 runs in the tournament. Towhid Hridoy is the closest with 95, which has also reached their batsmen’s leading strike rate of 125.
On the other hand, Marcus Stoinis (156), Travis Head (148) and David Warner (116) reached a combined three-figure score in four group stage matches and Australia’s explosive top-order again emerged as a key weapon today, even as their average row is not performing well so far.
Australia won all five of them T20 World Cup clashes with Bangladesh, including one on their way to the crown in 2021. The Asian nation at least took the bilateral T20 series in Mirpur 4-1 in the months before Australia saluted in Dubai, but the stakes here are much higher.
Geoff Lemon likes what he’s seen from Australiaand fairly early made a crow that they are again the team to beat:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to OBO’s live coverage of Australia and Bangladesh kicking off their 2024 Super Eight campaigns. T20 World Cup.
Australia captain Mitch Marsh can hardly hold back on his view that as far as he is concerned, the tournament essentially starts now.
Even with that said, Australia set themselves up as well as they could have hoped for through the group stage comfortable wins over Oman and Englanda thrilling win over Namibia, of course scare in a relatively dead rubber against Scotland.
Maybe Australia is struggling with the idea of accepting defeat against the Scots to knock out their common enemies England even more than they let on! Australia’s arch-rivals showed flashes of returning to their best in the an an eight-wicket win over the West Indies yesterday.
But it is India’s triumph over Afghanistan earlier today this is more relevant. The top two finishers in the Super Eight group, which includes Australia, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan, will advance to the semi-finals as Marsh’s side look to complete their haul of ICC trophies in Tests, ODIs and T20s.
The game kicks off at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua at 8.30pm – that’s 10.30am AEST and 1.30am BST.
Draw and squad news coming soon – meanwhile, Email your thoughts or contact X @martinpegan all day/night.
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