That’s it from Dubai today. Stay safe out there.
“I thought I was the only one that knew!” says Zampa of his hat-trick. “But if it wasn’t for Wadey’s hands at the moment, I wouldn’t have the wickets that I do have. Just happy with the win to be honest.”
What’s up next at the T20 World Cup? Sri Lanka and West Indies tonight, both of whom are already knocked out. Then the other group tomorrow, with Namibia v New Zealand and then Scotland v India.
Australian win by 8 wickets... with 82 balls to spare
That’s clinical. Their biggest hitter, Maxwell, wasn’t required to face a ball. Australia go ahead of South Africa on net run rate, and go second in the group. Both of those teams have one match left. Australia face the West Indies, and South Africa face England.
Still alive!
6.2 overs: Australia 78-2 (Marsh 16, Maxwell 0) Bosh! Simple stuff for Marsh. Pitched up from Taskin, Marsh drives on the up, no worries about keeping the shot down, and just rifles it between mid-off and cover for four. Then pulls for six to finish the job!
WICKET! Warner b Shoriful 18, Australia 67-2
6th over: Australia 67-2 (Marsh 6) Australia need 16 to win. Shoriful Islam is the new bowler, left-arm quick. Warner drops a single, and Mitchell Marsh creams his first ball for four. Pull shot, WACA style. Marsh drops a run to cover, Shoriful has overstepped, and Warner will get the free hit. This might get him going. Or not. Skips down but almost yorks himself, only digging it out for a single to mid-on. Warner has the last ball of the Powerplay, leans back and tries to smash it over the leg side, slight inside edge on Shoriful’s cutter and it’s back into the stumps.
7 to win. Here comes Maxi.
WICKET! Finch b Taskin 40, Australia 58-1
5th over: Australia 58-1 (Warner 16) More of the same from Finch. Flukes a miscue over mid-on for a couple. Survives an lbw appeal while trying to scoop. Then stands still and smites six over extra. Taskin tries a slower ball, dug into the deck, but Finch picks it. Waits for it. Baseballs it over long-off for six more! Taskin sneaks a fast one through past Finch’s leg stump again, then finally gets some reward to end the over by firing in fast again, taking some seam movement in towards the stumps and hitting the top of off, as Finch swings across it.
Still, 40 from 20, and Finch has killed off this match on his own.
4th over: Australia 44-0 (Warner 16, Finch 26) Warner gets away now, not overhitting, just up on his toes and punching behind point. Splits the field for four. Gets Finch on strike, and the skipper goes big over backward square leg for six! Easy off leg stump with Mustafizur having switched to bowling left-arm over the wicket. Then Warner goes hard enough at width to slice it off the top edge over short third for four, not once but twice in a row.
21 from the over! They need 30 more. Do it inside the Powerplay?
3rd over: Australia 23-0 (Warner 3, Finch 19) A mighty wind-up from Finch against Taksin, misses the lot and the ball just misses his leg stump. Wickets don’t matter here. Just get the thing done as fast as possible. Finch tries stepping to leg, anticipating width, but gets one speared in, and his big shot drags off the inside edge to mid-on. Sharp single. Now it’s Warner’s turn to fling the bat, and he misses as Taskin bowls wide of the lefty. Warner settles for one run off the hip. Good stuff from Taskin to have gone for 7 from 11 balls while they’re swinging this hard. But it comes to an end as Finch chips over midwicket for four. Should have been caught, but the man there is in by about 15 paces and can’t take it leaping back.
2nd over: Australia 16-0 (Warner 1, Finch 14) Now it begins! A couple of balls after slicing a shot away through cover to score a streaky four, Finch gets his front foot right out of the way and picks up Mustafizur down the ground for a huge six. Full, but not super full, so it was some shot for Finch to clean it out like that. Miles back into the stands. Follows up with a line drive that hits the bowler’s hands and shoulder, saving some runs.
1st over: Australia 4-0 (Warner 1, Finch 3) Taskin Ahmed to bowl the first over, and no fireworks from the bat to begin. Warner hops and drops a single, Finch booms a couple of big shots that meet fresh air. Taskin is bowling with excellent pace, mid-140s in metric money, and with swing before pitching and movement afterwards. Beats the bat twice, takes the edge on a third occasion that gives up a run to deep third, and another with an overthrow.
Here we go with the chase.
Have a look at some bowling figures. Zampa 5 for 19. Starc 2 for 21. They’re the only ones who bowled their full allowance.
Maxwell 1 for 6, Hazlewood 2 for 8, two overs each. Cummins the hard-luck story, 0 for 18 from three.
Australia must chase 74 to win
It’s all about how fast they can do it. Demolish this score in a few overs, and they might catch South Africa on net run rate, as a tiebreaker if both teams have points level. Admittedly SA have yet to face England, which you would pencil in as a loss, meaning Australia could pass SA by beating West Indies. But SA could turn over England if things go their way. So today matters.
Bangladesh all out 73
15th overs: Bangladesh 70-10 (Taskin 6) That... was limp. Weak, from Bangladesh. Were not in the frame at all today. Zampa though had never taken more than three wickets in this format, and is now the proud owner of a five-wicket bag.
WICKET! Shoriful c Finch b Zampa 0, Bangladesh 73-10
And a five-wicket haul for Zampa! Yet another left-hander, yet another wrong ‘un, and Shoriful Islam edged hard off a big swing to slip.
WICKET! Mustafizur c Smith Zampa 4, Bangladesh 73-9
Zampa gets a consolation wicket three balls later, lumped down the ground and caught at long-on.
THEY'VE DROPPED A HAT-TRICK!
Zampa on his hat-trick, first ball of his new over, and the chance goes down. You can’t blame Matthew Wade too much for that, with Taskin Ahmed going hard at a googly. The left-hander gets a thick edge, fast and a bit wide of Wade up to the stumps. Wade does get hands across to it, but only fingertips given the width.
“That was my hat-trick ball!” says Zampa.
“Yeah, I tried to catch it,” responds Wade. Rueful smiles all round.
14th over: Bangladesh 70-8 (Taskin 3, Mustafizur 4) Cummins has his turn lining up Mustafizur, bowling short, not so much in an intimidatory way as a method to draw fresh-air shots. When he does pitch up though, the Fizz lines up Cummins, a couple of runs over cover and a couple over mid-off.
13th over: Bangladesh 65-8 (Taskin 2, Mustafizur 0) The only fizz that Bangladesh will find today has just walked to the wicket. Left-handed, he has a special approach of backing outside leg stump to play Starc’s yorkers, but he still manages to keep out four in a row.
WICKET! Mahmudullah c Wade b Starc 16, Bangladesh 65-8
Story of the day. Anticlimactic, flat. Down the leg side from Starc, should be a wide but the Bangladesh captain gets a bit of wood on it. Wade dives across, Starc barely appeals, and the umpire doesn’t bother to raise a finger, just nods in confirmation as Mahmudullah starts to walk.
12th over: Bangladesh 64-7 (Mahmudullah 16, Taskin 1) Maxwell gets to stroll through an over for the cost of two runs. Nice work bowling at this point of an innings.
11th over: Bangladesh 62-7 (Mahmudullah 15) The poor old captain stands at the other end, watching it all slip away.
WICKET! Mahedi Hasan lbw Zampa 0, Bangladesh 62-7
Zampa on a hat-trick! Was that the wrong ‘un again? It certainly doesn’t turn away from the right-hander. It burrows in at leg stump with pace. Maybe a toppy. Mahedi can smash a few late in an innings, and jumps his feet apart here to attempt a pull, but it gets under the bat and hits him in front. Umpire says out, and a review says umpire’s call on the edge of leg stump.
WICKET! Shamim c Wade b Zampa 19, Bangladesh 62-6
The Shamim Show is over. Zampa tries his googly to the left-hander, turning away from the bat, and Shamim’s cut shot only makes contact with the edge of the bat. Wade catches a good one.
10th over: Bangladesh 58-5 (Mahmudullah 12, Shamim 19) Cummins starts bowling short and at the body of Shamim, and that keeps him quiet. Four runs from the over in dribs and drabs. Still scoring more consistently than any other Bangladesh players today.
9th over: Bangladesh 54-5 (Mahmudullah 11, Shamim 16) A bright moment for Bangladesh, and Shamim smacks Zampa for six. Slog-sweep from the left-hander, getting the ball turning back into him, and giving it everything over the long side of the ground. Boundary riders out, but he both finds the gap and carries the rope. Degree of difficulty: high.
8th over: Bangladesh 47-5 (Mahmudullah 11, Shamim 9) Starc again, and it’s a very Starc sort of over. A couple of wides, an overpitch that Shamim swats down the ground for four, another driven to deep cover for a couple. No Australian bowler has delivered consecutive overs today.
7th over: Bangladesh 38-5 (Mahmudullah 9, Shamim 4) At least Shamim Hossain looks composed on arrival, picking up a two and a couple of singles immediately from Zampa. Australia could be on for a huge boost on net run rate if they can finish off the other half of the Bangla batting.
Updated
WICKET! Afif c Finch b Zampa 0, Bangladesh 33-5
Another one! Cummins really is the one left out. Zampa gets a wicket with his first ball. Leg-spin 101: bowls a googly first up to a left-hander, who pokes at it and edges it to slip. Finch can attack with the score as it is, and has stationed himself in that catching spot. Thick edge going quickly at shoulder height, well caught.
6th over: Bangladesh 33-4 (Mahmudullah 8, Afif 0) End of the Powerplay, 33 for 4. Huge job ahead of Bangladesh from here.
WICKET! Naim c Cummins b Hazlewood 17, Bangladesh 32-4
When it’s full, Naim looks great, dreamily driving Hazlewood through cover for four. The shorter one though he tries to take on, getting a limping sort of top edge that lands inside the circle with the midwicket fielder.
5th over: Bangladesh 28-3 (Naim 13, Mahmudullah 8) One good, one bad. The pattern repeats, as Mahmudullah nails Starc through midwicket with a pull shot, before poking and getting a thick edge for four wide of the keeper.
4th over: Bangladesh 19-3 (Naim 12, Mahmudullah 0) Cummins on to bowl, as Australia keep rotating their bowlers. He’s the first who doesn’t immediately get a wicket. Not far off, as Mohammed Naim flashes a drive past Steve Smith at backward point. But Naim follows up with a much more controlled shot through cover, finding the fence with style.
3rd over: Bangladesh 10-3 (Naim 3, Mahmudullah 0) A wicket per over at the moment.
WICKET! Mushfiqur lbw Maxwell 1, Bangladesh 10-3
Another, and that’s the most important one. Mushfiqur Rahim has been Bangladesh’s best at this tournament. He matters most. Starc’s swing is replaced by Maxwell’s off-spin, and the all-rounder puts some revs on the ball and gets it turning in from outside the off stump. It hits Mushy just in line with off, and the turn is modest enough that the ball is going on to hit middle. No review.
Updated
WICKET! Sarkar b Hazlewood 5, Bangladesh 6-2
2nd over: Bangladesh 6-2 (Naim 1) Another chop-on. Different style, this one, Hazlewood bowling back of a length as he usually does. The left-hander just reaches for it, looking to run away a single to deep third, and instead chops it down on the bounce and into his stumps. Whacked one pull shot to the fence in that over, but it ends with his wicket.
1st over: Bangladesh 2-1 (Naim 1, Sarkar 1) No, that score isn’t a discount deal. It’s two runs, one wicket.
WICKET! Liton Das b Starc 0, Bangladesh 1-1
Gone in the first over! In-swing from Starc, full and moving, and though the line starts across the right-hander, the movement takes his inside edge as he drives, deflecting it back onto the stumps.
Here we go...
Teams
Bangladesh
Mohammad Naim
Liton Das +
Soumya Sarkar
Mushfiqur Rahim
Mahmudullah *
Afif Hossain
Shamim Hossain
Mahedi Hasan
Taskin Ahmed
Shoriful Islam
Mustafizur Rahman
Australia
David Warner
Aaron Finch *
Mitchell Marsh
Steven Smith
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Matthew Wade +
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Adam Zampa
Josh Hazlewood
Australia win the toss and will chase
Sighs of relief from the Aussies. They will know what they’re chasing.
Preamble
It’s crunch time. For Australia, that is. For Bangladesh it’s chill out and relax time. They’ve already been knocked out of the T20 World Cup, so they can play as they like. Win, lose, this is their last match and their tournament ends tonight.
Australia, however, have two matches left, so like two figures wrestling through the front window of a saloon, Bangladesh can leave while taking the Aussies with them. Or if Australia win tonight, the eucalypt and wattle dreams can continue a while longer.
Australia’s efforts so far in this tournament have been lacklustre: a drab sort of of win over South Africa, a bigger one over Sri Lanka, then a pasting delivered by England. Bangladesh thrashed the Aussies on slow home pitches a couple of months ago. These conditions won’t be extreme, but scoring off spin will be vital. Meaning that Glenn Maxwell will be vital, and perhaps a bit of Marcus Stoinis. The Australians have to get working, or get leaving.
