Bosisto steers Australia into semi-finals

Australia 172 for 5 (Bosisto 71*) beat Bangladesh 171 (Soumya Sarkar 73, Head 3-30) by 5 wickets
Scorecard

A captain's innings from Will Bosisto steered Australia into the semi-finals after they were in serious danger of being knocked out by Bangladesh in Townsville. Australia, the hosts and defending champions, knocked over Bangladesh for 171 but faced major trouble early in the chase as they slumped to 11 for 3 in the sixth over, when Bosisto came to the crease.

The opener Cameron Bancroft was caught behind off Taskin Ahmed for one and Abu Jayed picked up Meyrick Buchanan and Kurtis Patterson for ducks, but it was the fourth wicket that caused some consternation at the ground, when the bowler Soumya Sarkar mankaded Jimmy Peirson for 21. However, following that, Bosisto and Travis Head rebuilt the innings for Australia with a 67-run partnership.

Head fell for 44, the second wicket for Taskin, and Ashton Turner joined Bosisto with 72 runs required to keep Australia alive in the tournament. They eased Australia home with no further loss and with four overs remaining, and Bosisto was left unbeaten on 71 and Turner on 27 when the winning runs arrived.

The victory was a relief for the Australians after Bangladesh made a promising start with the bat, having been sent in by Bosisto. Sarkar and Liton Das put on 64 for the opening wicket, but a middle-order collapse hurt Bangladesh. Sarkar struck 73 from 80 balls and was one of three wickets taken by the part-timer Head, and besides the openers the only other men to reach double figures were Naeem Islam jnr (12) and Noor Hossain (17).