Bangladesh aim to bridge gulf

Match facts

	Tamim Iqbal says the occasion got to Bangladesh in the first match © AFP

Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Start time 9.30am (local)

The Big Picture

Australia's one-sided 180-run victory in the first match was largely overshadowed by the Andrew Symonds fishing mess. But nothing could quite mask the gulf between the two teams. It could not have gone much worse for Bangladesh. They crashed to their lowest ODI score, lost by 180 runs and were slammed by their coach Jamie Siddons for playing "silly shots". It will take a remarkable turnaround for them to be competitive in the second match, let alone for them to win.

ODI form guide

Australia - WWWWW (most recent first)
Bangladesh - LLLLL

Team news

The loss of Symonds and the inclusion of Moises Henriques in the squad as a learning experience leaves Australia with only 12 men to choose from. Shane Watson missed the previous game due to minor soreness in his leg but he trained at full strength on Monday and Tuesday and is ready to return. The most likely scenario is for Watson to rejoin Shaun Marsh at the top of the order, James Hopes to drop down the order and Brett Geeves to be squeezed out despite picking up two wickets on debut.

Australia (possible) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Cameron White, 8 James Hopes, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart Clark.

Bangladesh's under-siege batting order has received another setback with the news that Raqibul Hasan is out of the series after fracturing his right thumb when he was struck by a Geeves delivery on Saturday. Siddons was keen to make top-order changes after Mehrab Hossain jnr struggled in the opening role on Saturday and Junaid Siddique may get the job.

Bangladesh 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 4 Mehrab Hossain jnr, 5 Shakib al Hasan, 6 Alok Kapali, 7 Dhiman Ghosh (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Nazmul Hossain, 11 Shahadat Hossain.

Watch out for ...

Mitchell Johnson The quickest bowler in the series, Johnson picked up two early wickets in the first match. Siddons said his batsmen were frightened of Johnson's speed and played premeditated shots to deal with it. He also believed the Darwin pitch did not give Johnson much assistance, so the Bangladesh batsmen might reassess their approach on Wednesday.

Mashrafe Mortaza The all-time leading ODI wicket taker among Bangladesh fast bowlers, Mortaza was impressively tight in the opening match of this series. If he can add a couple of early wickets and allow the spinners to attack Australia's middle order, he could give Bangladesh their best chance of an upset.

Umpires Amiesh Saheba, Bruce Oxenford.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch on Saturday was a little slower than expected and the batsmen had to work hard to find their touch. By letting Australia set a target of more than 250, Bangladesh put themselves on the back foot. If they bowl first on Wednesday, they will be hoping to restrict Australia to around 220.

Weather

As expected in Darwin, the forecast is for hot and sunny weather with a top temperature of 34 degrees.

Stats and trivia

Bangladesh's 74 on Saturday was their lowest ODI total; the previous mark was 76 against both India in 2003 and Sri Lanka in 2002.

Cameron White collected a career-best 3 for 5 in the first match, having picked up only four victims in his previous 18 one-day internationals.

There have been only two ODIs held at Darwin's Marrara Cricket Ground. Australia have now beaten Bangladesh at the venue by margins of 112 runs and 180 runs.

Quotes

"If we're playing our best, we should be able to beat them pretty easily. They are ranked ninth in the world and we are number one."
Shane Watson, the Australia allrounder.