Australia v Bangladesh

At Chester-le-Street, May 27. Australia won by seven wickets. Toss: Australia.

Australia needed only 20 overs to pass a target of 179, thanks to big hitting from Gilchrist and Moody, who reached fifty in 28 balls, a World Cup record. They had been anxious to improve their net run-rate in case it came into play as a qualification tie-breaker. Earlier in the day, their bowlers found it harder to assert their dominance. On a pitch Steve Waugh described as the best he had seen on the trip, the Bangladeshis were contained but never suppressed. Minhazul Abedin scored his second unbeaten fifty in four days, urged on by chanting and drumming from a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters. Moody, in his first game of the tournament, took a tidy three for 25, and his later pyrotechnics with the bat reinforced his claims on the all-rounder's spot. Together with the decision to give McGrath the new ball, this marked the beginning of a strategy that would ultimately prove triumphant.

Man of the Match: T. M. Moody. Attendance: 7,061.