Litchfield, Sutherland star in Australia's crushing win over Bangladesh
The hosts took a 1-0 lead as Bangladesh Women's maiden ODI in Australia ended in a defeat
Bangladesh Women’s ODI debut in Australia ended in a crushing seven-wicket defeat in the opening game of the three-match series in Brisbane.
Under lights, Australia made short work of the 167-run chase, led by Phoebe Litchfield’s enterprising 77 off 57, giving Bangladesh’s bowlers little opportunity to make a game out of it.
Australia opted to bowl first and struck immediately. Megan Schutt reared one in sharply into Fargana Hogue, who could only edge it to slips. The early movement brought her another scalp in her next over, trapping Sarmin Sultana in front of the stumps. Her opening spell of five overs had two maidens, conceding just six runs.
Sharmin Akhter kept one end going, but Annabel Sutherland accounted for her in her first over, thanks to a brilliant catch at short square leg by Alana King. The early blows were followed by a prolonged period of preservation, as Bangladesh went into a shell.
Shorna Akhter dug in alongside Nigar Sultana: between overs 15-30, Bangladesh only added 40 runs. They lost only one wicket, but it pulled the run-rate down considerably. After he long vigil, Sultana was sucked into a tame drive by Tahlia McGrath. Not long after, Georgia Wareham ended Shorna’s long, toilsome knock, targeting the stumps well, even as she extracted less turn than King.
Bangladesh needed a push towards the end, provided to an extent by Ritu Moni, even as she fast ran out of partners. Placed at 130/7 after 40 overs, they couldn’t find a big over and were left to make do with the odd boundary, finishing on 166. Sutherland ended with a four-fer.
Without any real scoreboard pressure, Australia’s openers quickly took off. Phoebe Litchfield smartly made use of the gaps on the off-side, using her feet to counter early shape on the ball. Seventeen-year-old debutant Habiba Islam broke the flow by trapping Georgia Voll off a bouncer, but it didn’t affect Litchfield’s run-scoring. Next over, she drilled a hat-trick of fours off Marufa. When Habiba dropped one in short, she promptly deposited it over deep mid-wicket.
At the 10-over mark, Australia had cruised to 74/1. Next ball, Rabeya Khan had to walk off with a physio after seemingly jamming her shoulder.
Ellyse Perry, now into her 20th year in international cricket, was happy to nudge along as Litchfield did the bulk of the scoring, bringing out the sweeps to cull the turn. Rabeya returned to account for Litchfield, but by that time, Australia were well on course. Bangladesh managed a final moment of consolation when Hogue took a fine diving catch to send back Beth Mooney, giving Habiba another moment to savour on debut. With Sutherland for company, Perry polished off the rest of the runs with ease.
Brief scores: Bangladesh Women 166 in 49.4 overs (Ritu Moni 45, Nigar Sultana 29; Annabel Sutherland 4-30, Megan Schutt 2-19) lost to Australia Women 168/3 in 25.4 overs (Phoebe Litchfield 77, Ellyse Perry 26*; Habiba Islam 2-36, Rabeya Khan 1-32) by seven wickets.
