Australia beat Bangladesh by 9 wickets

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">COLOMBO: Bangladeshis have passed their sternest test so far in their nascent career in flying colours. Their batsmen tackled the world''s best fast bowler Glenn McGrath with confidence; faced the fury of Brett Lee with courage; negotiated the leg spin of Shane Warne with ease; and almost played out their quota of overs.<br />However, that was still not enough to stop the Australians from racing to a nine-wicket victory in a pool game of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament as their bowlers were found woefully short of class. <br />Electing to bat, Bangladesh pieced together 128 runs before folding up in the 46th over. Their decision to set the target rather than chase one perhaps stemmed from the belief that they are strong in batting and therefore sought to test it on a fresh wicket against an attack that is predominantly pace. That almost proved disastrous when they were quickly reduced to 13 for four by the eighth over.<br />It was not Glenn McGrath who did the damage. It was Jason Gillespie, picking up from where he had left in Nairobi. In yet another display of penetrating bowling, which lent further credence to the belief that Jason is gradually emerging out of McGrath''s shadow, he left the Bangladesh innings in shambles. He struck twice in his very first over and followed it up with another wicket in his fourth for an opening spell that read 6-0-13-3. McGrath removed Javed Omar at the other end.<br />That raised doubts if Bangladesh would be shot out for the lowest ever score in one day cricket because there were just three more recognised batsmen — Tushar Imran, Khaled Mashud and Aloke Kopali — left in the line-up.<br />Imran now assumed the role of resurrecter, punching a couple of boundaries off Shane and Warne and Brett Lee. Together with Mashud, he ensured that his team crossed the lowest ever total before departing for 27 which had five boundaries.<br />Then another teenager Aloke Kolpati donned the warriors'' gear for Bangladesh. Showing tremendous patience and courage, he urged Mashud and Khalid Mahmud to stay at the wicket till the 41st over. Although runs were at a premium, they stayed put at the wicket with an aim to play out all their overs. But once these two partners left, there was very little sting left besides Kopali. The target as well as Bangladesh attack was child''s play for the Aussie openers Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden. They would have seen the team to victory had Gilchrist read the bounce in a Rafique delivery that caught him plumb in front of the wicket. He made 54. <br />Hayden (67) and skipper Ricky Ponting completed the formality. Australia finished on top of Pool A and will celebrate their passage into semifinal in Male where they are going to camp for the next 3-4 days.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Scoreboard:</span><br />Bangladesh: J. Omar c Lee b McGrath 4 A. Sahariyar lbw b Gillespie 0 H. Bashar c Gilchrist b Gillespie 0 M. Haque c Gilchrist b Gillespie 3 T. Imran c Bevan b Lee 27 K. Mashud b Warne 22 A. Kapali b Lee 45 K. Mahmud lbw Watson 9 M. Rafique run out 5 T. Baisya not out 2 M. Islam lbw b Watson 0 Extras (b5, lb1, nb5, w1) 12 Total 129<br />Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-10, 4-13, 5-49, 6-85, 7-118, 8-126, 9-128.<br />Bowling: McGrath 8-3-17-1 Gillespie 10-1-20-3 Lee 7-0-23-2 Warne 10-2-33-1 Lehmann 8-0-23-0 Watson 2.2-0-7-2. Overs: 45.2<br />Australia: A. Gilchrist lbw b Rafique 54 M. Hayden not out 67 R. Ponting not out 9 Extras (lb1, nb1, w1) 3 Total (for one wicket) 133<br />Fall of wicket: 1-113.<br />Bowling: Islam 6-0-35-0 Baisya 5-0-27-0 Rafique 5-0-32-1 Mahmud 4-0-34-0 Haque 0.4-0-4-0. Overs: 20.4<br />Result: Australia win by nine wickets Man of the match: Jason Gillespie (Aus). </div> </div>