By IANS
Cape Town : Australian paceman Brett Lee notched the first hat trick in international Twenty20 competition to help his side thrash Bangladesh by nine wickets in a Group F encounter at the Newlands Stadium here Sunday.
Recovering from a disastrous start to the Twenty20 World Championships when they were beaten by Zimbabwe in their opening encounter, the Australians looked more like the number one team as they restricted Bangladesh to 123 for eight in the stipulated 20 overs.
The winners of three straight World Cups overhauled the target in 13.5 overs for the loss of opener Adam Gilchrist (43 off 28 balls, 1×4, 4×6) in the only fashion that Bangladesh looked like getting a wicket – run out.
Matthew Hayden was in an equally punishing mood as he remained unbeaten on 73 (48 balls, 9×4, 3×6). Skipper Ricky Ponting joined the opener to complete the formalities after Gilchrist’s dismissal as Australia collected two easy points and a formidable net run rate.
The other teams in the group are Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Earlier, Bangladesh were asked to bat first and survived the new ball attack, putting on 40 runs for the opening stand before Mitchell Johnson provided the breakthrough. Wickets kept falling as the Bangladesh score moved into three figures.
Then came Lee’s dramatic second spell when he removed Shakib Al Hasan, Mshrafe Mortaza and Alok Kapali off successive deliveries to leave Bangladesh reeling at 108 for six.
Bangladesh never recovered, setting Australia a modest target.
SCOREBOARD
Bangladesh:
Tamim Iqbal c Ponting b Clarke 32
Nazimuddin c Ponting b Johnson 11
Aftab Ahmed c Hodge b Bracken 31
Mohammad Ashraful c Symonds b Clark 7
Shakib Al Hasan c Gilchrist b Lee 16
Mashrafe Mortaza b Lee 0
Alok Kapali lbw b Lee 0
Farhad Reza c Hussey b Bracken 4
Mushfiqur Rahim not out 3
Abdur Razzak not out 0
Extras (b1, lb2, w11, nb5) 19
Total (for 8 wickets off 20 overs) 123
Did not bat: Syed Rasel
Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Nazimuddin, 6.6), 2-65 (Iqbal, 10.5), 3-82 (Ashraful, 10.1), 4-108 (Al Hasan, 16.3), 5-108 (Mortaza, 16.4), 6-108 (Kapali, 16.5), 7-120 (Ahmed, 19.3), 8-120 (Reza, 19.4)
Bowling:
Brett Lee 4-0-27-3 (3nb, 1w)
Nathan Bracken 3-0-14-2
Stuart Clark 4-0-13-1 (1w)
Mitchell Johnson 4-0-28-1 (2nb, 1w)
Andrew Symonds 2-0-10-0
Michael Clarke 3-0-28-1 (2w)
Australia:
Adam Gilchrist run out 43
Matthew Hayden not out 73
Ricky Ponting not out 6
Extras (w1, 1nb) 2
Total (for 1 wicket off 13.5 overs) 124
Did not bat: Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark
Fall of wickets: 1-104 (Gilchrist, 11.3)
Bowling:
Mashrafe Mortaza 3.5-0-27-0
Syed Rasel 2-0-25-0 (1w)
Abdur Razzak 4-0-34-0 (1nb)
Shakib Al Hasan 2-0-15-0
Slok Kapali 2-0-23-0
Result: Australia win by nine wickets
Man of the Match: Brett Lee (Australia)
Toss: Australia won toss, elected to field
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Ian Howell (South Africa)
TV umpire: Tony Hill (New Zealand)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire Marais Erasmus (South Africa