Elysse Perry and Ash Gardner secured the comprehensive victory for Australia but Sophie Molineux was just as important in her first ODI for more than two years:
With that the stream splutters to a close and so to must I. Thanks for joining us for the latest rumbling of the Australian juggernaut. We’ll be back on Wednesday for the third and final ODI of the series. Until then, so long, farewell and ta-ra.
Alyssa Healy speaks: “We were as clinical as we needed to be, they put us under the pump with the ball but we’ve got great depth in our batting and were able to come through.”
“It’s the back end of the season for us and there are a lot of tired bodies around but everyone is giving it their all and it’s another series win and great source of pride for us as a group”
Sophie Molineux is player of the match for her 3-10 with the ball. She collects the comedy oversized cheque and has a few words with the post match presentation presenter. She’s delightfully understated and mentions how lovely it is to be back.
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Sophie Molineux is having quite the comeback:
In her first ODI since September 2021 today, she picked 3/10 😲
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 24, 2024
Sophie Molineux is in some form 🔥🫡#CricketTwitter #WPL2024 #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/JuErNw3X43
Australia win by six wickets!
Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner see Australia home with ease. Bangladesh never had enough runs on the board and despite a few wickets falling - two to direct hit run outs - Alyssa Healy’s side canter home with 26.1 overs to spare and take the three match series with one game still to play.
ODI series win in Dhaka! 🤩 #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/ftxDUWs79K
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) March 24, 2024
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23rd over: Australia 91-4 (Perry 31, Gardner 17) The Perry/Gardner partnership reaches 31 off 30 balls, no alarms and no surprises. I’ll take the quiet life.
22nd over: Australia 85-4 (Perry 28, Gardner 16) Four singles off the over. The fizz has gone from the Bangladesh fielding effort BUT IS ABSOLUTELY STILL HERE ON THIS OBO AMIRIGHT?! Just 13 needed for Australia to take the spoils.
21st over: Australia 81-4 (Perry 26, Gardner 14) Fahima Khatun into the attack with quick wickets needed. She takes the edge of Gardner’s blade but the ball goes in the gap and trickles away for a couple. Three singles follow before Perry punishes a wider ball, flat-batting away for four. 17 needed from 29 overs. Where’s your moolah?
20th over: Australia 72-4 (Perry 21, Gardner 10) Nine runs off the over as Australia haul the winning line into sight. Gardner drives in the gap for four and five further singles inflict a slow burn pain on Bangladesh.
19th over: Australia 63-4 (Perry 19, Gardner 3) Gardner gets off the mark with a well timed push for two and nudges a single off the final ball to keep strike. In other news, my coffee tastes like soil. Very erm peaty? Not necessarily in a good way.
18th over: Australia 60-4 (Perry 18, Gardner 0) Ash Gardner joins Perry in the middle. 38 still needed for Australia, six wickets for Bangladesh. ‘Add another couple to the scoreboard…’
WICKET! McGrath run out (†Nigar Sultana) 10 (Australia 60-4)
Shorna Akter is given the nod… McGrath cuts for a couple a run and a bit – she’s RUN OUT trying to make her ground for the second! The throw came in from the deep and keeper Nigar Sultana gathered, whipped off her glove and threw down the stumps at the opposite end in one movement. Brilliant fielding sees the back of the dangerous McGrath.
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17th over: Australia 58-3 (Perry 18, McGrath 9) Perry looks completely comfortable (ahem) at the crease. Like she’s enjoying a nice net out in the middle. Three singles off the over with no drama.
16th over: Australia 54-3 (Perry 15, McGrath 8) Perry pounces on a fuller ball from Rabeya and whips away to the fence for four. The YouTube coverage has a habit of flicking to an advert at a key moment, which is keeping me on my toes. Shot! McGrath opens the face and glides through point for another boundary. 44 more needed for the gals in green n gold.
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15th over: Australia 45-3 (Perry 10, McGrath 4) Nahida Akter is on the money, Perry collecting just one more single off the over.
14th over: Australia 44-3 (Perry 10, McGrath 4) Rabeya continues, bowling in her cap a la Geoffrey Boycott in his pomp. Perry clips a single and that’s all the action off the over. 54 runs needed off – oh right – 36 overs.
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13th over: Australia 44-3 (Perry 8, McGrath 4) Tahlia McGrath is the new batter. Three dots to get her eye in and then a booming cover drive in the gap for four.
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WICKET! Mooney st Nigar Sultana b Sultana Khatun 8
Beth Mooney is gone now though, tempted out of her crease by Sultana and connects only with fresh air. Nigar Sultana collects and whips off the bails. Australia are three down, 59 runs still needed.
12th over: Australia 39-2 (Perry 8, Mooney 8) Mooney uses her feet to the first ball from Rabeya’s fourth over and stears in the gap for four. Swiss clock timing. DROP! Mooney escapes with her life as a plinked drive is shelled by the fielder at mid-off. The bowler drops to her knees, it was a dolly and it somehow went down.
11th over: Australia 32-2 (Perry 7, Mooney 2) Sultana drops short and Perry slams it away through mid-wicket, a disdainful short armed pull for four.
10th over: Australia 28-2 (Perry 3, Mooney 2) Rabey sends down five dots to Perry, the batter getting a big stride in and defending in textbook fashion. She pinches strike with a nurdle for one off the last.
9th over: Australia 27-2 (Perry 2, Mooney 2) A single each to Perry and Mooney as the mini wobble is negotiated.
8th over: Australia 25-2 (Mooney 1, Perry 1) Beth Mooney is the new batter and she gets off the mark with a clip off her toes. A couple more quick wickets here would make things inneresting.
WICKET! Healy c Nahida Akter b Rabeya Khan 15 (Australia 24-2)
Gone now! Healy swipes at new bowler Rabeya Khan and is easily caught by Nahida. The Tigers have two Aussies back in the hutch!
Big tune this. Especially if you are three years old.
7th over: Australia 23-1 (Healy 15, Perry 0) Alyssa Healy gets her KP to Scott Styris on and reverse hits for… a one bounce four. That’s such a good shot executed with panache, the ball rocketing out of the screws and away to the fence.
6th over: Australia 19-1 (Healy 11, Perry 0) Just a single to Healy.
#BANvAUS The commentators and scorers have lost the plot 😂 They think Alyssa Healy is Ellyse Perry and vice versa.
— David P (@David_Paul_B) March 24, 2024
There is a fair bit of this going on, it’s a bit of a Two Ronnie’s sketch at the moment on the YouTube stream.
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5th over: Australia 19-0 (Healy 10, Perry 0) A wicket maiden for Nahida Akter but it must be a bit of gut punch to see Ellyse Perry striding out to the middle with a WPL winning glow.
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WICKET! Litchfield run out (Fargana Hoque) (Australia 19-1)
Yep! A quick single ends in disaster for Litchfield as her bat gets stuck in the turf just as she tries to ground it, the replays show that it fell from her hand just as the throw from Fargana takes out the timbers. Bangladesh have their first.
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Review for a Run Out! I think Phoebe Litchfield is gone gone gone here…
4th over: Australia 19-0 (Healy 10, Litchfield 5) Here we go! Healy dances down the wicket and clubs over the top for a one bounce four. Close! Healy tries to repeat the shot but slices it high into the air, the ball just plooping over mid off’s head and a couple of runs are scampered.
3rd over: Australia 11-0 (Healy 3, Litchfield 4) A maiden stitched together by Nahida, Healy happy to block it out and pat it back.
2nd over: Australia 11-0 (Healy 3, Litchfield 4) Phoebe Litchfield isn’t for hanging about, she clubs Sultana Khatun away through cover for four and the spinner responds by… spearing one down the leg side for five wides - bonus runs Australia don’t need and Bangladesh can ill afford.
1st over: Australia 2-0 (Healy 2, Litchfield 0) Nahida Akter starts with the ball for Bangladesh and it’s a tidy first over. Alyssa Healy clips away off her pads for a couple to get Australia moving. Wickets is the only currency here for Bangladesh. Coffee is the only currency here pour moi.
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Thanks Rob and a bleary hello all. The players have emerged out in the middle, a quick game is a good game, let’s play!
Australia need 98 to win the match and series
That’s all from me. Jim Wallace, the man who never sleeps, is here to talk you through what should be a short runchase. Thanks for your company, ta-ra.
The pick of the bowlers was the left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux, playing her first white-ball game for Australia since 2021. She dismissed three of the top six, including the captain Nigar Sultana, to end with enviable figures of 10-5-10-3.
WICKET! Bangladesh 97 all out (Nahida c Sutherland b King 22)
Nahida charges King and holes out to Sutherland at mid-on. That’s the end of another tough innings for Bangladesh, who were dismissed for 95 in the first ODI and managed only a couple more today.
It could have been worse this time: they were 61 for eight before the No9 Nahida Akter top-scored with a punchy 22.
44th over: Bangladesh 97-9 (Nahida 22, Marufa 4) Another eyecatching stroke from Marufa, the No11, who smacks Wareham through extra cover for her second boundary. The match is surely beyond them but Bangladesh have fought backm pretty well from 61 for eight.
43rd over: Bangladesh 93-9 (Nahida 22, Marufa 4) A maiden from King to Nahida, who remains on 22. Her career-best score is 25 not out, so this matters to her.
42nd over: Bangladesh 93-9 (Nahida 22, Marufa 4) Nahida cracks Wareham for four, then takes a couple to move into the twenties and overtake extras as the leading scorer in the innings. She keeps the strike at the end of the over, too, so Bangladesh still have a chance of reaching three figures.
41st over: Bangladesh 86-9 (Nahida 15, Marufa 4) Ash Gardner finishes a nice spell with figures of 10-0-22-2. The YouTube feed has almost given up, but we’ll do our best to keep you up to date.
40th over: Bangladesh 85-9 (Nahida 14, Marufa 4) Marufa Akter crashes Wareham through mid-off for four; that’s a very nice way to get off the mark, especially for a No11. Bangladesh may yet trump their score of 95 in the first ODI.
39th over: Bangladesh 77-9 (Nahida 11, Marufa 0) Unless Nahida Akter can do some late damage, the top-scorer is going to be extras, which are currently 19.
WICKET! Bangladesh 77-9 (Sultana st Healy b Gardner 5)
Nine down, one to go. Sultana Khatun misses a big heave at Gardner, inadvertently dragging her back foot outside the crease. Healy takes the ball superbly above her head and whips off the bails before Sultana can ground her bat.
38th over: Bangladesh 76-8 (Nahida 10, Sultana 5) Sultana plays a couple of good-looking attacking strokes off Wareham without piercing the infield. That’s been a theme of the innings.
37th over: Bangladesh 75-8 (Nahida 10, Sultana 5) Gardner starts her eighth over with a wide, the 12th of the innings. That will be Australia’s only slight frustration with this innings. The rest of the over is defended with the utmost care.
36th over: Bangladesh 74-8 (Nahida 10, Sultana 5) Wareham is too good for the lower order, who are struggling to lay a bat on her. Nahida Akhter finds a effective solution: she runs down the track and mows the ball past mid-on for four. That’s it for the over, and time for drinks.
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35th over: Bangladesh 70-8 (Nahida 6, Sultana 5) Sultana slogs Gardner over midwicket for a couple. She’s almost bowled round her legs after walking too far across to a delivery from round the wicket that just – and I mean just – misses leg stump.
34th over: Bangladesh 66-8 (Nahida 6, Sultana 3) Wareham almost skids one straight through Nahida, who then survives a run-out appeal after taking a quick single to mid-on. The dive saved her.
33rd over: Bangladesh 64-8 (Nahida 4, Sultana 3) The pitch has offered turn but it’s far from a raging turner. Australia have just been too good. Bangladesh will be slightly frustrated that they haven’t done themselves justice – it’s hard to be sure from this distance but they have seemed a bit starstruck at times.
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32nd over: Bangladesh 62-8 (Nahida 4, Sultana 1) Australia’s spinners have combined figures of 23-7-43-7. That. Is. Very. Good.
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WICKET! Bangladesh 61-8 (Rabeya LBW b Wareham 2)
Bangladesh’s slow, slow death continues when Rabeya misses a sweep and is plumb LBW to Wareham. That ball was too full to sweep, not unlike Fahima Khatun’s dismissal earlier in the innings.
31st over: Bangladesh 61-7 (Rabeya 2, Nahida 4) Gardner comes on for King, who bowled some beautiful deliveries in a spell of 5-1-15-1. She gets some sharp bounce to Nahida, who is hit on the arm as she pushes tentatively in defence. Bangladesh have been a bit starstruck – understandably so – with an all-or-nothing approach to their batting. Block, block, block, thwack one up in the air.
30th over: Bangladesh 60-7 (Rabeya 2, Nahida 4) The new batter Nahida Akhter edges Wareham just past the diving slip for four.
WICKET! Bangladesh 56-7 (Shorna c McGrath b Wareham 2)
After 18 balls of disciplined defence, Shorna Akter slogs her 19th straight up in the air to give Georgia Wareham her first wicket. McGrath backpedalled at mid-off to take a comfortable catch above her head.
28th over: Bangladesh 56-6 (Shorna 2, Rabeya 2) King implores the umpire to give Rabeya LBW when she misses a sweep, but she doesn’t get her wish. It was pretty close, maybe turning past off stump.
28th over: Bangladesh 53-6 (Shorna 0, Rabeya 1) Georgia Wareham replaces Sophie Molineux. Her first over is a maiden, including a couple of unpunished full tosses to Rabeya Khan. After a brief flurry from Fahima and Ratu, the run-rate has dropped back below two and over.
27th over: Bangladesh 53-6 (Shorna 0, Rabeya 1) While we expected Australia to win this series comfortably, and the upcoming T20s too, it’s such good preparation for the World T20 in Bangladesh later in the year. They certainly aren’t short of high-class spin bowlers.
26th over: Bangladesh 52-6 (Shorna 0, Rabeya 0) What do Shorna Akter and Rabeya Khan do here: try to bat time or just have a swing? Shorna is veering towards the former. She plays out a maiden from Molineux, who ends a brilliant spell with figures of 10-5-10-3.
25th over: Bangladesh 52-6 (Shorna 0, Rabeya 0) Back-to-back wicket maidens from Molineux and now King. And now YouTube has decided it’s time for an advert for togethermoney.com. WHAT ARE THEY SAYING TO ME?
WICKET! Bangladesh 52-6 (Fahima c Wareham b King 11)
Fahima Khatun’s counter-attacking cameo comes to a predictable end. She tries to slog-pull a ball that is too full for the shot and goes miles in the air. Georgia Wareham runs in from deep square to take another well-judged catch.
24th over: Bangladesh 52-5 (Fahima 11, Shorna 0) A wicket maiden for Molineux, whose figures get better by the over: 9-4-10-3.
WICKET! Bangladesh 52-5 (Ritu c Perry b Molineux 10)
Ritu Moni dies by the sweep. She top-edged it high to deep backward square, where Elysse Perry took a good catch diving forward. Molineux has her third wicket and Bangladesh are officially in all sorts.
23rd over: Bangladesh 52-4 (Fahima 11, Ritu 10) Fahima has a wild heave at King and mishits the ball high in the air. It just clears the player running back from mid-off, and the two runs take Fahima into double figures.
Later in the over King beats Ritu with a jaffa that drifts onto leg stump and then growls past the outside edge. Ritu’s response is excellent, a lofted sweep in front of square for four. Bangladesh aren’t exactly oozing permance at the crease but they have at least standing landing some blows.
22nd over: Bangladesh 44-4 (Fahima 8, Ritu 5) The Australian spinners are rattling through the overs – another maiden from Molineux gives her figures of 8-3-10-2.
21st over: Bangladesh 44-4 (Fahima 8, Ritu 5) The legspinner Alana King comes on for Ash Gardner. A quiet first over, three from it.
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20th over: Bangladesh 41-4 (Fahima 7, Ritu 3) Fahima does get the first boundary of the innings, slugging Molineux over mid-off. It wasn’t perfectly struck but she got enough on it, and I must say she has started her innings with impressive intent. It can’t be easy to come to the crease against Australia with your team 25 for three in the 17th over.
19th over: Bangladesh 36-4 (Fahima 3, Ritu 3) An errant delivery from Gardner scuttles away for four wides. Can we call that the first boundary of the innings?
Ritu Moni is denied the first actual boundary when she edges Gardner wide of slip, with Molineux haring to the boundary to make an admirable diving stop
18th over: Bangladesh 27-4 (Fahima 2, Ritu 0) It’s been a fine return for Sophie Molineux, whose figures are 6-2-6-2.
WICKET! Bangladesh 27-4 (Nigar LBW b Molineux 1)
Three wickets in three overs! Nigar Sultana pushes defensively outside the line of a textbook arm ball and is trapped LBW. That looked plumb.
17th over: Bangladesh 26-3 (Nigar 1, Fahima 1) Fahima Khatun gets off the mark with a sweep round the corner. Still no boundaries in the innings.
WICKET! Bangladesh 25-3 (Murshida c Molineux b Gardner 5)
Another one gone. Murshida’s first big shot is her last, a zesty cut stroke that goes straight to Molineux at backward point. Bangladesh are really struggling here.
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16th over: Bangladesh 25-2 (Murshida 5, Nigar 1) The captain Nigar Sultana, who top-scored in the first ODI before being run-out in peculiar fashion, is the new batter.
WICKET! Bangladesh 23-2 (Fargana c McGrath b Molineux 7)
That’s the problem with trying to show more urgency. Fargana, on the charge, slices Molineux high over mid-off, and McGrath runs back towards the boundary to take a well-judged catch. Fargana goes for a laboured 7 from 52 balls.
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15th over: Bangladesh 23-1 (Fargana 7, Murshida 4) Gardner beats Murshida three times in that over, each time when she was trying to cut. This is an unusual start from Bangladesh, whose run-rate is 1.47 per over. I guess they are just enjoying the chance to bat against Australia, but maybe they could show a bit more urgency.
14th over: Bangladesh 22-1 (Fargana 6, Murshida 4) Murshida looks an elegant left-hander, with an easy flow of the bat. She made an unbeaten 91 in that sensational hammering of South Africa late last year.
Two runs from Molineux’s fourth over.
13th over: Bangladesh 20-1 (Fargana 5, Murshida 3) Ash Gardner preplaces Schutt and gives the ball some air straight away. Fargana runs down the pitch but again can’t beat the close fielders on the leg side. It feels like something have to give here, with Fargana now on 5 from 47 balls. She has made centuries for Bangladesh in both white-ball codes so this performance is out of character.
12th over: Bangladesh 19-1 (Fargana 5, Murshida 2) Molineux has a slip and leg gully for Murshida, who thick edges wide of slip for a single. After the YouTube feed cuts to an advert for Corsodyl – what are they trying to tell me – Molineux bowls a quicker one that Fargana just manages to inside edge onto the pad. That was close.
Fargana has 5 from 42 balls, Murshida 2 from 10. We are back in 1989.
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11th over: Bangladesh 18-1 (Fargana 5, Murshida 1) Schutt, bowling round the wicket to the left-hander, almost gets her second wicket when Murshida clips just short of Litchfield at midwicket. A single to fine leg gets her off the mark. At some stage Bangladesh will have to change gears but for now they are taking the opportunity to bat time against a world-class attack.
Schutt has figures of 6-2-7-1, with five of those runs (I think) coming from wides.
10th over: Bangladesh 17-1 (Fargana 5, Murshida 0) Fargana survives an LBW appeal after pushing around a good delivery from Molineux. It was probably missing leg.
Fargana tries to be proactive by coming down the track, but she can’t pierce the infield. That’s been a problem for Bangladesh throughout the first 10 overs. Another maiden for Molineux, who has started really well in her first ODI since 2021.
9th over: Bangladesh 17-1 (Fargana 5, Murshida 0) The left-handed Murshida Khatun is the new batter. Australia have the innings under control; in fact they’ve conceded more runs in wides than they have off the bat.
The umpires asked Sobhana to hang around while the third umpire checked whether it was a front-foot no-ball. The footage wasn’t conclusive, at least not the pictures we saw, so Sobhana is on her way.
WICKET! Bangladesh 17-1 (Sobhana c Healy b Schutt 3)
There’s the first one. Sobhana tries to cut a widish delivery from Schutt that is slightly too full for the stroke and snicks it through to Healy.
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8th over: Bangladesh 17-0 (Fargana 5, Sobhana 3) Sophie Molineux replaces Elysse Perry, whose three overs went for 11. She was player of the match in the WPL final, when she took three top-order wickets in four magical deliveries, and she is on the money straight away. It’s a maiden to Fargana, who has pottered to 5 from 31 balls. Shobana has 3 from 17.
7th over: Bangladesh 17-0 (Fargana 5, Sobhana 3) Fargana pulls a single off Schutt, the first run she has conceded off the bat; then there are two more wides, which makes it eight in the innings already. That’s really unlike Australia.
6.2 overs: Bangladesh 14-0 (Fargana 4, Sobhana 3) A length ball from Schutt kicks nastily to hit Fargana in the grille as she pushes forward. There’s a break in play while she is checked by the physio, though she seems okay.
6th over: Bangladesh 14-0 (Fargana 4, Sobhana 3) Schutt and Perry are bowling a full length to maximise any movement, with the occasional surprise short ball thrown in. Perry’s bouncer is called wide, the sixth of the innings already. It’s been a sedate, almost strokeless start from the Bangladesh openers.
5th over: Bangladesh 11-0 (Fargana 3, Sobhana 2) Schutt and Healy are certain that Fargana has top-edged a hook through to the keeper; the umpire doesn’t agree and there’s no DRS in this series.
A maiden from Schutt, who is yet to concede a run off the bat.
4th over: Bangladesh 11-0 (Fargana 3, Sobhana 2) Sobhana can’t take advantage of a couple of full tosses from Perry. She timed the second quite nicely but Gardner made a very good stop in the covers.
After another wide from Perry, Sobhana gets off the mark with a flick through midwicket for two. It’s been a reasonable start for Bangladesh, even if Fargana has had a bit of luck.
3rd over: Bangladesh 8-0 (Fargana 3, Sobhana 0) The openers are taking no risks against Schutt, who is hooping the new ball back into the right-hander. One ball does too much and is called wide; everything else is spot on and defended carefully by Fargana.
2nd over: Bangladesh 7-0 (Fargana 3, Sobhana 0) Elysse Perry takes the new ball in the absence of Kim Garth. She starts with a leg-side wide, but her first legitimate delivery almost brings a wicket when Fargana top-edges a pull straight over the head of Healy.
Fargana is riding her luck. She’s beaten by some extravagant seam movement, then edges a drive between slip and gully at catchable height. There’s another wide later in the over – the third of the innings and Australia’s 12th of the series so far.
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1st over: Bangladesh 2-0 (Fargana 0, Sobhana 0) Schutt gets her usual inswing, with one ball curving prodigiously back into Fargana Hoque. Bangladesh get off the mark with a wide that slips down the leg side for a single, then Sobhana survives an LBW appeal after playing around another inswinger. It might have been too high.
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The players are ready for action. Megan Schutt will bowl the opening over.
There was heavy rainfall overnight, but the match will start on time. A fresh pitch is being used for the game so there might be a bit of life for the quick bowlers early on. Alyssa Healy says her gut feel is that the pitch may play a bit better than on Thursday.
The teams
Bangladesh stick with the same XI that played on Thursday. Sophie Molineux for Kim Garth is Australia’s only change.
Bangladesh Fargana Hoque, Sobhana Mostary, Murshida Khatun, Nigar Sultana (c/wk), Fahima Khatun, Ritu Moni, Shorna Akter, Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, Sultana Khatun, Marufa Akter.
Australia Healy (c/wk), Litchfield, Perry, Mooney, McGrath, Gardner, Sutherland, Wareham, King, Molineux, Schutt.
Australia Women’s Team Tour of Bangladesh 2024
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) March 24, 2024
Bangladesh vs Australia | Playing XI | 2nd ODI Match
Watch the Match Live on: https://t.co/LuCEbDdqk9#BCB #Cricket #BANWvAUSW #BDCricket #LiveCrcket #Bangladesh #HomeSeries #odiseries #womenscricket pic.twitter.com/iORsuthu9W
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Bangladesh win the toss and bat
The left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux comes into the Australian side for her first white-ball match since 2021. She replaces Kim Garth, which suggests another turning pitch in Mirpur.
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The coverage hasn’t started yet so we don’t know who has won the toss, or whether there is life in Mirpur. There’s quite a retro feel to this series; I feel like I should be snuggled up in bed with a transistor radio crackling into life every few minutes.
The first ODI was an intriguing game on a tricky pitch in Mirpur. Australia were in trouble early on – 48 for four, then 112 for six – but Annabel Sutherland and Alana King powered them to 213 for seven, with King belting five sixes. It proved to be more than enough.
Alyssa Healy: 34 today
"Alyssa Healy's got a hat-trick on her birthday!"
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) March 23, 2024
Manifesting this. Happy birthday skipper ❤️ pic.twitter.com/pFrEUayJNr
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, over-by-over coverage of the second ODI between Bangladesh and Australia in Mirpur. Who’s ready for another spinfest? The slow bowlers were very dominant on Thursday, when Australia overcame a difficult start with the bat to win the first ODI by 118 runs. Another victory today would clinch the series with a game to spare.
This series is about the future as well as the present, though Australia won’t take anything for granted. In the last year Bangladesh have beaten South Africa and India in both white-ball formats, and there were times on Thursday that Australia looked like they might join that list.
The match begins at 2:30pm AEDT. We’ll have the toss and team news shortly.
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