Pat Cummins claimed a hat-trick to help Australia start their T20 World Cup Super 8s campaign with a rain-affected victory over Bangladesh overnight - then admitted he had no idea he’d done it.
Bangladesh were restricted to 140 for eight from their 20 overs, before rain forced the players off with Australia 100 for two in the 12th over of the reply, comfortably ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.
After spinner Adam Zampa had taken two-for-24 in the middle overs, Cummins did the damage at the death, removing Mahmudullah and Mahedi Hasan and the end of the 18th over and then returning to have Towhid Hridoy caught off the first ball of the 20th.
"At the end of the over, I saw it come up on the screen and I totally forgot about [the hat-trick],” Cummins said.
"I've taken a few in junior cricket but never for Australia. It's pretty awesome to be able to join the club.”
David Warner then blasted an unbeaten 53 from 35 balls at the top of the reply to have the Aussies 28 runs ahead of the DLS rate by the time the rain came as the 2021 winners made it a perfect five victories on the bounce so far at this tournament.
England, meanwhile, are this afternoon due to continue their campaign against South Africa in Saint Lucia, knowing a win would likely send them into the semi-finals.
The holders made a poor start to the tournament when being washed out against Scotland and then thrashed by Australia, but scrapped into the Super 8s on net-run-rate and looked back to their best in a statement victory over co-hosts West Indies in Thursday’s early hours.
“We've just won what is probably going to be one of the toughest games of the tournament,” said seamer Jofra Archer. “Everyone loves to win so confidence will be high. So this is lovely but it's also business as usual.
"It's a tough group and South Africa is the same challenge as any other team, one to six is packed with batters, so it doesn't really change. We just need to come up with another plan that works."
