Mon, 11 Apr 2011 - Bangladesh vs Australia, Australia Tour of Bangladesh 2011, 2nd ODI- Bulletin

Watson hurricane blows away Bangladesh

Shane Watson’s legend as one of the fierce hitters of cricket ball in the world cricket has gone to another level as he mauled Bangladesh attack disdainfully to help his team to a lop-sided nine victory in the second ODI of three match series.

Watson’s monstrous 96-ball 185 run innings literally finished the chase of 230 in a blink as Bangladesh bowlers were left high and dry infront of right hander’s unprecedented onslaught. Watson hit as many as fifteen sixes-record for the most number of sixes in ODI cricket-and as many fours to power his way to a record breaking innings.

He also surpassed Mathew Hayden’s 181- best ODI score by an Australian player-and also scored maximum number of runs in boundaries in ODI history beating Hershel Gibb’s previous record of 126 runs.

Pace or spin, didn’t matter for the man who was in the hitting form of his life as he plundered bowlers irrespective of their reputation to all corners of the ground. When Watson was hitting them to the stands without much of a fuss, it looked as if there was an exhibition match going on with bowlers having no answer to Watson heroics.

He slog swept with all the authority in the world to collect most of the sixes via this shot and took a liking to Sohrawardi Shuvo looting 27 seven runs of his over including four back to back sixes.

With this win Australia took the unassailable lead of 2-0 as target of achieved in 26th over. There was hardly any joy for Bangladesh during Australian batting effort except for Brad Haddin’s wicket. Ricky Ponting made sure to give much of strike to Watson as he made a quiet 37 runs off 42 balls hitting a six and two fours.

Earlier, after deciding to bat first, Bangladesh meandered to 229 thanks to impressive half-centuries each from Mushfiqur Rahim and Shahriyar Nafees.

Bangladesh again had a disastrous start to their innings when they lost Tamim Iqbal in second over and lost two more in next ten overs to reel at in 12th over with score reading at 27.

Nafees, however, played a good innings to give innings some stability as he scored a well compiled 56 off 73 balls including half a dozen fours. Bangladesh slumped again as Steven Smith claimed wickets of Nafees and Skipper Shaqibul Hassan in space of six overs.

With half a team in the pavilion end, wicketkeeper batsman Rahim played a terrific innings mixing aggression with some sensible batting as he picked up the singles and doubles when pressure was on. He unleashed aggression in the dying stages of the game picking up 17 runs in one Brett Lee over.

He was well supported by Mahmudullah and both combined together to put on valuable 79 runs for the fifth wicket to help his side to reach to some respectability. His more than run a ball was a reminder of his batting talent as he hit nine fours and a six in his 81.

For Australia Mitchell Johnson was the pick of bowlers claiming three wickets while leg spinner Steven Smith bowled tightly to take two wickets.