Australia breeze to consolation win

If the destructive power brought to bear by Aaron Finch and David Warner allowed Australia to evade the ignominy of their worst-ever global tournament display, then it also underlined why the sometime favourites will fly home with an especially bitter memory of the 2014 World Twenty20.

Finch and Warner alone possess enough pyrotechnics to dominate a match - as Bangladesh discovered in a chase that consigned the hosts to the ignominy of failing to win a single fixture in the main draw. So for the Australians to be leaving the tournament at such an early stage will be the cause of some introspection by the captain George Bailey, the coach Darren Lehmann and the selectors. To avoid going home without winning any of four games was the most modest of rewards.

It remains to be seen whether Bailey will continue as the specialist T20 captain, having guided Australia through two tournament campaigns for diminishing returns. He ended Australia's tournament with a hollow-feeling six as Finch and Warner swung lustily but intelligently, but looked nonplussed at times in the field as Bangladesh wriggled to a higher total than a more ruthless and balanced Australian combination might have conceded.

Equally glum were Brad Hodge and Brad Hogg, the two most venerable members of Australia's squad, left out for the final match and unlikely to figure in future assignments. Both Hodge and Hogg might have been utilised differently in the team, something that Shane Warne certainly felt preferable, suggesting on commentary that the former could have been used at No. 3 throughout.

Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim had prospered through the middle overs against a fairly monotone collection of medium pace and above, while Glenn Maxwell's spin was not in the class of that in the armoury of Hogg and James Muirhead, also left out of this match, or numerous others sitting at home, including the Test spinner Nathan Lyon.

The omission of both specialist spin bowlers chosen for the tournament seemed a kind of concession that Australia's slow bowling plans had been awry, with the use of five seamers a rare curiosity in a tournament where all the most accomplished teams have relied on quality exhibitions of flight, dip and turn. Mitchell Starc looked underdone, as he has appeared all tournament, while Doug Bollinger huffed and puffed to little effect.

The best of the pacemen was the third string Nathan Coulter-Nile, who gained some new ball swing for a pair of early wickets, before maintaining his economy for the remainder of a spell that strangely went uncompleted. Instead, Shakib and Mushfiqur accumulated soundly against bowling that did not offer much in the way of a threat, while speckled with five wides and two no balls.

Granted 153 to defend, Bangladesh bounced onto the field in expectation, but soon found themselves being smashed around Mirpur by Warner and Finch. This was the kind of display many had expected to see earlier in the tournament, when Pakistan, West Indies and India all escaped unharmed from their encounters with Australia's opening pair.

Warner skied an early half-chance that fell short and essayed one other reverse hoick but otherwise clattered the ball in sensible areas. Both he and Finch sat on the back foot to the spinners and capitalised on any shortness of length, before climbing out to swing sixes when the bowlers tried to compensate.

By the time Sohag Gazi coaxed a thick edge behind from Finch the match was well on the way to being over. Kumar Dharmasena did not see the deflection and shook his head, leading to a sequence of verbal conflict between Warner and Mushfiqur. Warner's departure the following over drew a send-off from Al-Amin Hossain, but like Australia's eventual victory, it was sound and fury signifying nothing.