Australia finishes WT20 with a W

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Australia have cantered to their first win of the World T20 in their final group match against host nation Bangladesh, reaching the moderate target of 154 with 15 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand.

The match was all but over midway through Australia’s second innings, as opening batsmen Aaron Finch and David Warner combined for a 98-run stand to put their side into a winning position.

Earlier, a stirring partnership by Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim and star batsman Shakib Al Hasan provided the impetus to their side’s impressive 20 overs.

Rahim won the toss and elected to bat, as Australia boldly – or bizarrely – opted to go against the conventional wisdom of this World T20 in refusing to select a frontline spinner, James Muirhead dropped for Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Dan Christian at last getting a run in place of Brad Hodge.

As a result, their strategy had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, both in theory and practice, as Mitchell Starc and Nathan Coulter-Nile bounded in on a pitch that, despite the current heatwave, still offered a little moisture.

After a couple of warm-up wides to the left-handed Tamim Iqbal, Coulter-Nile found his line against the right-hander, Anamul Haque, and also found the edge, with Aaron Finch swallowing a simple chance at first slip.

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The West Australian, who could consider himself unlucky to have been left out of Australia’s past two matches, made it a double blow in his second over, Iqbal driving straight to Bollinger at mid-off to leave the home side in early trouble at 2-12.

The wicket brought Rahim to the crease – a man who, at 160cm, somehow manages to classily wield a bat that looks a good two or three sizes too big for him.

Rahim and Al Hasan then set about making a mockery of Australia’s plan to bombard the host nation with a pace assault.

The diminutive pair found and cleared the boundary regularly, sneaking singles where they could and keeping the run rate hovering near enough to eight an over.

That Glenn Maxwell’s gentles off-breaks were also seized upon – he went for 32 from his three overs – could be considered either vindication for Bailey’s decision not to field an out-and-out spinner, or proof positive that he should have.

As the total pushed past 100 in the 14th over and Al Hasan blasted a free-hit from Maxwell for a straight six, the home crowd – sparse at first, but having swelled significantly – came dramatically to life.

Perhaps they were sensing that, after their own tournament of frustration, today might finally be their day.

It was left to Shane Watson to make the breakthrough, as he has a happy knack of doing, and Rahim (47 off 36) was the man to go, looking to up the tempo but picking out Maxwell on the midwicket fence.

It ended a magnificent partnership of 112, the highest-ever by a Bangladeshi pair for the third wicket in T20 internationals.

It also caused a shift in momentum, with 19 runs coming in three overs as an innings that had at one point threatened to hit 170 suddenly began petering out to significantly less.

The Bangladesh innings was further hampered with the dismissal of Al Hasan (66 off 52), who also failed to avoid a diving Maxwell at deep midwicket.

Watson (1-25 off four), Bollinger (1-31 off four), and Mitchell Starc (1-25 off four), with a spate of yorkers in the final over, were largely to thank for keeping the score to a manageable one for the batsmen.

It was Finch who made the early running – hitting 11 from the first over – as Warner again struggled to find his usual fluency.

Dropped on 10, the left-hander resorted to the unorthodox the following over, switch-hitting his way out of trouble with a boundary through third man/fine leg and following it up with punched four through cover to at last begin to resemble the man who has dominated the world’s best bowlers for the past five months.

Finch collected two more fours and a six in the following over to bring the 50 up for Australia in the sixth over as the contest began to take on a one-sided feel.

The pair continued to plunder boundaries almost at will until the score reached 92, at which point Finch was the beneficiary of a shocking decision from umpire Kumar Dharmasena, with the right-hander clearly edging spinner Sohag Gazi through to Rahim behind the stumps.

A heated discussion between the Bangladesh captain and non-striker Warner followed moments later, and when Warner (48 off 35) was bowled the following over by paceman Al-Amin Hossain, he received an ugly send-off from the bowler (watch below).

After demonstrating his full range of shots in an outstanding batting display, Finch (71 off 45) then went the way of Warner, skewing an attempted drive out to the cover region where Nassir Hossain did terrifically well to dive forward and seize the chance.

Glenn Maxwell, Australia’s best batsman this tournament, finally ended his love affair with the Mirpur pitch, clean bowled by debutant speedster Taskin Ahmed for five.

So the job was left to Cameron White (18 not out off 16) and skipper Bailey (11 not out off seven) to get Australia home and end what has been a nightmare campaign with a consolation victory.