Key events
1st over: Bangladesh 14-0 (Murshida 0, Dilara 14) After some technical difficulties I am back.. and Bangladesh are off to a brilliant start! Dilara hits 14 off Schutt’s first over including three fours. Watch out Australia.
Fariha Trisna ends the Aussie innings with a hat-trick! She removes Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux and Beth Mooney (batting at No.9!) with consecutive deliveries and Australia finish on 8-161 #BANvAUS
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 2, 2024
Australia 161-8
Well a very strong batting innings from Australia suddenly collapsed towards the end there! With the exception of the cheap wickets in the final over I think Healy would be happy with the shake-up in the batting order – Harris and Wareham put on a fantastic partnership, and McGrath and Perry looked good. They got to experiment a little which will put them in good stead for the World Cup and Healy had a nice rest.
WICKET! Mooney b Trishna (Australia 161-8)
Trishna gets her hat-trick! Well her innings certainly turned around. Mooney swings and misses and the ball clatters into the stumps.
WICKET! Molineux c Murshida b Trishna (Australia 161-7)
Molineux is gone for a duck, caught at backward point, and Trishna is on a hat-trick with one ball remaining.
WICKET! Perry c Shorna b Trishna (Australia 161-6)
Just as she was looking oh so comfortable, Perry hits straight to the fielder at deep cover.
19th over: Australia 155-5 (Perry 24, Sutherland 1) McGrath starts with a reverse sweep and it’s again misfielded, allowing them to run one. Her innings is cut short by Nahida. Annabel Sutherland comes to the crease and gets off the mark with a drive to long off for a single.
WICKET! McGrath lbw Nahida (Australia 153-5)
Ahh that partnership was looking very solid … McGrath drops the knee to slog sweep and misses the ball which thuds into the pad.
18th over: Australia 151-4 (McGrath 18, Perry 22) Fahima finishes her successful bowling spell with 2-34, best for Bangladesh so far. McGrath and Perry are making sure to take the singles when they can, helped a couple of times by some errors in the field.
17th over: Australia 145-4 (McGrath 16, Perry 18) Not a great ball from Shorifa to start the over and McGrath hits her past fine leg for four. The next five delivers are better, Australia running some singles. I just remembered that Australia still have Healy and Mooney to bat if needed…
16th over: Australia 137-4 (McGrath 10, Perry 16) Another good over from Rabeya and solid fielding to stop a couple of possible boundaries. Until the final ball, Perry hits hard through deep cover for four.
15th over: Australia 129-4 (McGrath 9, Perry 9) Perry skips down the wicket and shows just why she has been around so long for Australia. She drives past deep cover, the ball bouncing just short of the boundary and over. Then it’s McGrath’s turn, stepping on to the back foot and smacking Fahima past deep backward point for her first boundary.
14th over: Australia 118-4 (McGrath 5, Perry 2) That has been a great spell for Bangladesh! After taking the catch of Harris, Rabeya comes into the bowling attack. Despite the quick fall of wickets in the last few overs, Perry and McGrath look confident and comfortable, handling Rabeya’s spin with expertise, although only four from her over so good start.
13th over: Australia 114-4 (McGrath 3, Perry 0) Replacing Gardner at the crease, McGrath starts with a lovely cover drive which is picked up just short of the boundary. No runs off the final ball as Perry steps up.
WICKET! Harris c Rabeya b Fahima (Australia 114-4)
Another wicket for Fahima in this over! Harris sends the ball sky-high and the fielder at deep midwicket has time to get underneath it to take the catch. Harris departs three runs short of her 50.
WICKET! Gardner c&b Fahima (Australia 111-3)
Gardner finds the gap mid-on and gets her first boundary then drives it straight back to Fahima the next ball. The bowler almost drops it but recovers to take the catch.
12th over: Australia 107-2 (Harris 47, Gardner 1) Bangladesh needed that breakthrough from the wicket. Ash Gardner comes to the crease for Australia – she looks uncomfortable with Nahida’s first ball to her but takes a single on the second.
WICKET! Wareham c Mostary b Nahida (Australia 106-2)
Just as I was starting to type that Wareham was heading towards her heighest T20 international score she smacks the ball high and straight to the fielder at deep midwicket.
11th over: Australia 105-1 (Harris 46, Wareham 57) Some of that over was fans being interviewed in the stands so I missed a few balls. Shorifa is into the attack for Bangladesh. Wareham is not letting up, and Australia roll over the 100-run mark. One boundary from the 11th over – Wareham reserve sweeping past third man.
Ok it was a four. Wareham has rocketed to 50 off 26 balls. At the half-way point in the innings the teams are having a well deserved drinks break in the heat.
That’s a 26-ball fifty for Georgia Wareham batting at No.3!
Aussies flying at 1-105 after 11 overs #BANvAUS
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) April 2, 2024
10th over: Australia 94-1 (Harris 42, Wareham 50) On top of all the boundaries the Australians are really working hard between the wickets too, seemingly unfazed by the heat at this point. They are taking quick singles whenever they can and forcing Bangladesh to work a bit harder in the field. Wareham ends the over with a boundary past long-off, takes a little while for the umpires to determine whether it’s a six or four. Either way Wareham gets her 50!
9th over: Australia 84-1 (Harris 41, Wareham 41) Marufa is back into the mix as the Australian batters punish Bangladesh’s bowlers. Her first over went for 12, but she appears to have regrouped and is looking much better. Well that is until Harris drives her beautifully over cover. Wareham steps back and swings hard, edging Marufa past third man for four. They run hard on the final ball and get three – 13 runs off that one.
8th over: Australia 71-1 (Harris 36, Wareham 33) Three fours and a six … Beautiful shot from Harris against legspinner Shorna marks the first six of the match, a slog sweep over deep midwicket. Three back-to-back boundaries for Wareham follow, and their 50-run partnership is suddenly here. Wareham is finding the gaps all over the field. Ending with a single, not a great start for Shorna, who is just 17 years old!
7th over: Australia 51-1 (Harris 29, Wareham 20) Rabeya is into the attack now but the boundaries continue to flow, one each for Harris and Wareham. Harris’s performance appears to be vindicating the decision to bring her up as an opener.
6th over: Australia 40-1 (Harris 23, Wareham 15) A good over for Australia. Harris slogs Nahida’s first ball for four, and Wareham hits the final one down the ground for another four. That’s the power play done.
5th over: Australia 29-1 (Harris 16, Wareham 11) Wareham shuffles across and smacks Trishna’s yorker for four past deep extra cover. Wareham misses the second and looks very anoyed at herself for it, but pulls back and hits the third delivery through deep wicket for another four. They run two to finish the over thanks to a mis-field – not quite as good for Trishna that one.
4th over: Australia 19-1 (Harris 16, Wareham 0) Nahida comes into the bowling – an experienced bowler for Bangladesh. Wareham gets a single off a shorter ball, hitting to midwicket. Chance for a catch by Fahima running in hard from long-off but she can’t quite get to it in time.
3rd over: Australia 15-0 (Harris 13, Wareham 0) Trishna is bowling well and rewarded with a wicket and maiden over. She’s only a young player and this is her first match of this series, and only her 12th international.
WICKET! Litchfield c Murshida b Trishna (Australia 15-1)
Trishna bowling straight, Litchfield tries to play it over the infield and it just doesn’t get far enough. A good catch from Murshida running backwards and another disappointing innings for Litchfield.
2nd over: Australia 15-0 (Litchfield 2, Harris 13) A mis-field off Marufa’s first ball results in a boundary for Harris. Marufa is getting the ball moving well but Harris flicks her nicely to the boundary at deep square leg. And another through deep cover follows, fuller ball from Marufa – expensive first over for her!
1st over: Australia 3-0 (Litchfield 2, Harris 1) Australia have changed up their batting order today, dropping Healy and Mooney down and going for a new combo in Litchfield and Harris. The tourists testing a few things out before the World Cup.
Fariha Trishna opens the bowling for Bangladesh with some pace. Harris gets off the mark with a single off the second ball with a bottom edge.
Fariha forces some insecure shuffling from Litchfield, before she gets settled, steps forward and sends it high to deep cover for two runs.
The umpires are walking out to the centre. The commentators say it’s hot and muggy today.
Here’s a few words from Australia’s coach Shelley Nitschke yesterday about how she feels her side has performed so far in Bangladesh.
We’ve had some really challenging conditions, I think some big turning conditions that have challenged our batters and how we adapt. So I’ve been really happy with how we’ve gone about it.
… Moving into the first T20 I thought we’ve got a really good handle on the conditions now and hopefully we can continue to play well throughout.
On the promising return to the squad Molineux and Vlaeminck:
It’s been really pleasing I think for those two individually, both of them spent a lot of time out of this team and away from the game with some injuries and Tay in particular to see her come back yesterday and play like she did, I think there was a few people with a bit of a tear in their eye to see what she’s been through and get her way back to this level.
I think the quicks have been really critical just breaking up the spin attack. I think the spin’s been really effective, the wickets have turned but the quicks have certainly held their own with the new ball and playing a role through the middle as well.
A couple of changes to the lineups. After winning the toss Healy says they don’t want to rush Vlaeminck back into things after being out of international cricket for so long. Schutt is back in.
For Bangladesh Sultana Khatun is out and pace-bowler Fariha Trisna is in. Captain Nigar says it was a good toss to lose and they are very happy to bowl first.
The teams
Australia XI: Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Ash Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Alyssa Healy (c), Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt.
Bangladesh XI: Dilara Akter, Murshina Khatun, Sobhana Mostary, Nigar Sultana Joty (c), Fahima Khatun, Shorna Akter, Rabeya Khan, Nahida Akter, Marufa Akter, Shorifa Khatun, Fariha Trisna.
And here’s Vlaeminck reflecting on her return to the national set-up after the first T20.
On the weekend Healy showed once again she absolutely can do it all.
Australia win the toss and bat first
Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney made light work of the chase in the first T20, hitting 127 with seven overs to spare. With the captain choosing to bat first this time and set the target we may yet see full overs played.
On Sunday, the first T20 of this three-match series saw Australia continue their trend of complete and utter domination from the one-day internationals earlier in the month.
Tayla Vlaeminck celebrated her return to international cricket by taking with a wicket with her fourth ball, as Australia thrashed Bangladesh in their series-opening Twenty20 international.
Preamble
Jo Khan
Good day to all! This is our live, over-by-over blog of the second Twenty20 women’s international between Australia and Bangladesh. It’s technically match No 5 of this multi-format tour in Dhaka, Australia having taken a clean sweep of the three ODI’s in March with ease.
The first T20 over the weekend saw the triumphant return of quick Tayla Vlaeminck to the Australian side for the first time since 2022 after an awful run of injuries. The Victorian took just four balls to underline her name on the team list – clean-bowling Sobhana Mostary. The tour is great preparation for the World Cup in Bangladesh later this year, with returnees Vlaeminck and Sophie Molineux making strong cases for their selection.
Play starts at 5pm AEDT, 12pm at the Sher-e Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Team news and the toss will be up soon, it looks like it’s a hot and hazy day in Dhaka.
I’m Jo Khan, feel free to get in touch by emailing me at jo.khan@theguardian.com or on X @_jokhan.
