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Aussies seal series

Aussies seal series

06/09/2008 5:56 PM

Australia's bowlers have skittled Bangladesh for just 125 to win the third and final one-day international by 73 runs and claim a 3-0 series sweep in Darwin on Saturday.

The Bangladeshi batsmen failed to back up their team's excellent bowling and fielding performance earlier in the day when they restricted the home side to 5-198 on a slow pitch at TIO Stadium.

Stuart Clark set Australia on its way with his two wickets coming in the opening six overs before medium-pacers James Hopes (3-30) and Shane Watson (2-8) put the finishing touches on a solid, if not spectacular, victory.

Only man-of-the-match Tamim Iqbal showed any resistance for the visitors, top-scoring with 63 from just 69 deliveries before top-edging a short ball from Watson to Clark at third man in the 24th over.

The 19-year-old opening batsman played a lone hand in the Bangladesh chase with his innings including five boundaries and a huge six over long-on off Hopes.

He shared a 60-run stand with Shakib Al Hasan, who made 27, but the spinner's demise sparked another collapse with the last five wickets falling for just 43 runs. Shahadat Hossain did not bat because of an injured hand.

Abdur Razzak (14) was the only other batsman to reach double figures.

Clark set the tone early with the wickets of Junaid Siddique for a duck and Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful for three. Mitchell Johnson then chimed in with the wicket of Alok Kapali for a duck in his first over to leave the visitors at 3-28 after eight overs.

Iqbal and Al Hasan then set about resurrecting the innings and when the tourists reached 3-82 they were in with a slender chance of an upset.

But all-rounders Hopes and Watson swung the match back in Australia's favour, the former taking career-best figures.

Australia stand-in captain Michael Clarke said he resisted the temptation to put Bangladesh in first so his batsmen could get some valuable time in the middle.

"It was a good opportunity for us to get out there and put some runs on the board," he said. "The way we'd been bowling and fielding I was confident we could do the job this afternoon."

Like Bangladesh, Australia had struggled to post a decent total.

It was the Bangladeshi spinners who put the brakes on the home side through the middle stages of their innings while three run-outs also didn't help Australia's cause.

Michael Hussey showed why he is rated among the world's best one-day batsman with a composed half-century at the tail of the innings, while big-hitting Cameron White smacked 22 from 24 deliveries to push the hosts to 5-198 at the end of their 50 overs.

It wasn't until late in Australia's innings that it threatened to cut loose with Hussey smashing Mashrafe Mortaza over the deep mid-wicket boundary in the final over to bring up his 50.

A four off the last ball of the innings saw him finish on 57 from 72 balls, bringing his series total to 150 for just one out. Hussey was later presented with the man-of-the-series award.

Bangladesh put in its best performance in the field as spinners Al Hasan and Razzak restricted the Aussie batsmen.

So tight was the bowling that the Aussies were forced to look for suicidal singles, resulting in three run-outs.

Watson (27) was the first to go in that manner when Mashrafe Mortaza threw to wicketkeeper Dhiman Ghosh

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
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