Australia opener Cooper Connolly smashed 149 off just 134 deliveries in pursuit of 275 against Bangladesh in the third One-Day International (ODI) in Dhaka to help Australia avoid a whitewash. Connolly smashed 13 fours and six sixes on his way to a magnificent innings, allowing Australia a nail-biting one-wicket victory. Despite wickets tumbling at the other end, the youngster did not get distracted and took his side home, bringing up his maiden ODI hundred in just 87 deliveries.
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Besides Connolly, no other Australian batter even scored 30. Marnus Labuschagne scored 29, while Cameron Green and Oliver Peake slammed 27 each. Shoriful Islam became just the fifth Bangladesh bowler to pick up six wickets (6/48) in a match, but that was not enough to help Bangladesh complete a clean sweep.
Historic series win for Bangladesh
With five required of the last two overs, Australia lost Coonnolly, with four more needed off nine balls, with one wicket in hand. However, Adam Zampa smashed a boundary off Taskin in the final over, to deny Bangladesh a 3-0 sweep.
Bangladesh did well to post 274/5 in their 50 overs, thanks to fifties from Litton Das (58), Towhid Hridoy (83), and Mosaddek Hossain (56). Matt Renshaw (2/44) and Xavier Bartlett (2/47) were the pick of the Australian bowlers, while Ben Dwarshuis picked up one.
Despite this loss, this was Bangladesh’s first ODI series against Australia. Bangladesh won the first ODI by 86 runs and then followed that up with a five-wicket win in the second game.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 275/5 in 50 overs (Towhid Hridoy 83, Litton Das 58*; Matt Renshaw 2/44) lost to Australia 277/9 in 49.3 overs (Cooper Connolly 149, Marnus Labuschagne 29; Shoriful Islam 6/48) by 1 wicket
Player of the Match: Cooper Connolly
Player of the Series: Modaddek Hossain
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