Hussey, Nannes lead Aussies into Super Eights

BRIDGETOWN, (Reuters) – Michael Hussey struck a  sparkling 47 not-out and Dirk Nannes took four wickets to help  Australia beat Bangladesh by 27 runs and qualify for the Super Eight stage of the Twenty20 World Cup yesterday.

The one-day world champions were struggling at 65 for six  after fine bowling and fielding from Bangladesh with two wickets  apiece for Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan.

Bangladesh, who have lost their last 12 matches in the  shortest format of the game, sensed the chance to end that run  with what would have been the first major upset of the  tournament.

Instead they are eliminated and were left to rue the way  they allowed Australia to claw back to a decent total and then  surrendered with some poor top order batting.

“I thought we had a very good chance. We should have chased  140 runs,” said Tigers’ skipper Al Hasan.

“We did not bowl very well in the last four overs, and we  played too many shots early in our innings. We need to take the  big step forward in these games and start winning some of them,”  he said.

Bangladesh’s excited celebrations of their wickets, cheered  by an afternoon Kensington Oval crowd made up largely of  schoolchildren, revealed a team that despite that three-year  losing streak, truly believed they could beat Michael Clarke’s  side.

But Hussey and Steven Smith added a vital 74 runs in seven  overs to lift the Aussies to 141 for seven.

Hussey bats down at seven in Twenty20 precisely to act as an  insurance policy if the big hitters at the top of the order  fail.

That can be a thankless task at times with the classy Hussey  usually forced to slog in the final few overs but on Wednesday,  Australia needed to call on his intelligent and accomplished  strokeplay.

“I was just trying to get a partnership going, before the  slog in the end overs. Smithy played a good innings and we got  up to 140. Thankfully today was my day — you have plenty of bad  days batting lower down, so you got to enjoy the good ones,” he  said.

Bangladesh knew they had to win with a swift run-rate to  qualify for the next stage ahead of Pakistan but they were never  really in the running after slumping to 15 for four.

As so often, the impressive Al Hasan provided resistance  with a spirited 28 from as many balls before he was caught  superbly by Hussey at full stretch on the boundary.

Hussey also caught Mushfiqur Rahim, who had batted with  character, off the bowling of his brother David and Bangladesh  were bowled out for 114.

SCOREBOARD

Australia innings
D. Warner c Aftab Ahmed b Shakib Al Hasan          16
S. Watson c Aftab Ahmed b Mortaza                             4
M. Clarke c Jahurul Islam b Ashraful                         16
B. Haddin c Shafiul Islam b Abdur Razzak                  6
D. Hussey c Rahim b Mortaza                                          9
C. White b Shakib Al Hasan                                               8
M. Hussey not out                                                              47
S. Smith run out                                                                  27
R. Harris not out                                                                   2
Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4)                                                         6
Total (seven wickets, 20 overs)                                 141
Did not bat: S.Tait, D.Nannes
Fall of wickets: 1-16 2-21 3-37 4-52 5-57 6-65 7-139
Bowling: Mortaza 4-0-28-2, Shafiul Islam 4-0-34-0 (w-2),  Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-24-2, Abdur Razzak 4-0-29-1 (w-1), Ashraful  4-0-24-1 (w-1).

Bangladesh innings
Imrul Kayes c D.Hussey b Tait                                    0
M. Ashraful c Tait b Nannes                                         0
Aftab Ahmed c Warner b Nannes                               1
Shakib Al Hasan c M.Hussey b Smith                    28
Mahmudullah c M.Hussey b Nannes                        2
Mushfiqur Rahim c M Hussey b D.Hussey          24
Naeem Islam c Smith b D.Hussey                             7
Jahurul Islam c Clarke b Nannes                            18
Shafiul Islam b Smith                                                   16
M. Mortaza b Harris                                                       6
A. Razzak not out                                                            3
Extras: (lb-4, w-5)                                                          9
Total (all out; 18.4 overs)                                       114
Fall of wickets: 1-4 2-4 3-13 4-15 5-63 6-70 7-81 8-100 9-106  10-114
Bowling: S.Tait 4-2-15-1 (w-4), D.Nannes 4-0-18-4, M.Clarke  1-0-12-0, R.Harris 3.4-0-28-1, S.Smith 4-0-29-2 (w-1), D.Hussey  2-0-8-2.