DHAKA - Australia have clinched a clean sweep of their three-match one-day international cricket series against Bangladesh with a 66-run win, after the hosts threatened to pull off a monumental run-chase in Dhaka on Wednesday night.
Australia's Mike Hussey scored his first one-day century in more than four years to help the visitors to 8-361, batting first. With Australia coming off commanding wins in the first two matches and Bangladesh never having scored more than 320 in their history, it seemingly put the world's No.1 ranked one-day team in an invincible position.
But Bangladesh's top-order batsmen put the heat on Australia's new skipper Michael Clarke with a superb start to their innings, reaching 1-152 by the halfway mark. Opening batsman Imrul Kayes (93 from 95 balls) had struggled to five from 41 deliveries in the previous match, but was a changed batsman on Wednesday, stroking the ball beautifully to all parts of the field.
That included sweeping Clarke over the midwicket fence in the 27th over, after the skipper introduced himself to the attack to try to stop the runs flowing so comfortably.
But it was debutant Victorian paceman James Pattinson who turned the tide. Replacing Clarke for the 29th over, Pattinson bowled a tight three-over spell which cost just nine runs to send the required run-rate escalating.
Even more critically, he claimed the key wicket of Kayes, caught behind by Tim Paine in the 31st over. Pattinson and Paine were both called up for the match, with Brett Lee and Brad Haddin rested.
