Bangladesh were lucky to gain a point against Australia, who were advantageously poised while chasing a meager target of 183 runs in Champions Trophy 2017 cricket match. Two times champion Australia failed to get a result again today against Bangladesh as bad weather forced no result yet again for the Aussies. However, this time, rain prevented them from a certain win, different from their last game against New Zealand when the Kiwis had them on the mat and headed for a probable defeat.
Steve Smith’s men were 83 for 1 in 16 overs, chasing 183 to win, when the continuous drizzle forced stopping of play. Both of the Australian team’s matches have ended in no result now, and they face a do-or-die clash against England in Birmingham on June 10th, if they are to advance to the semi-finals.
Australia needed to bat for at least 20 overs for the Duckworth Lewis method to apply, and the team will be surely cursing their luck given that they needed only four more overs to be bowled for a win.
“It’s a little bit frustrating not to get a result in,” Smith said.
“Of course I didn’t want to go off. I was happy to keep batting through the rain”
“The umpires are there to make a decision. To be fair it was raining reasonably hard when we did come off.
“The groundsmen, perhaps could have shown a bit more urgency being a big tournament. But they did the best job they could.”
Earlier in the day, it was Tamim Iqbal’s 95 that made the day for the struggling Bangladesh team, who lost in the opening match against England on June 1, and are headed out of the tournament.
Despite Iqbal’s stellar innings, Mitchell Starc’s spell of four wickets in nine balls made sure that Australia were ahead before the rain played spoilsport.
In light of the ominous clouds gusting in, Australia had to get off to a quick start to win on the D/L rule if the required 20 overs were bowled. Aaron Finch and David Warner both hammered a pair of boundaries as Australia were off to 37-0 in 6 overs.
David Warner was especially aggressive, pulling one tame delivery from Mashrafe Mortaza off his hip and away to the fence in a flash.
However, it was not to be as the clouds soon arrived after a Rubel Hossain inswinger caught Finch’s foot in front of the wickets, and all the praying turned out to be useless when the match was called off at 2019 GMT.
