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Johnson, Marsh star as Australia complete T20I series sweep
In the T20I series, Australia defeated Bangladesh to win the series and sweep the series. With figures of 2 for 6, Spencer Johnson led the way, while Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa each returned a pair to keep the hosts at 109 for 8. Mitchell Marsh hit a 28-ball 60 to help the visitors get back on the tour after losing the ODI series. The visitors were able to chase that total down quickly.
In the second Twenty20 International in Chattogram, Bangladesh had come within seven runs of Australia's total of 196 runs. Towhid Hridoy chose to bat because the game was played on the same field. It turned out that, despite Australia's bowlers performing admirably, his teammates had trouble adapting to a slow surface.
When Johnson was able to get a hand on a drive from Saif Hassan before the ball rolled on to hit the stumps, Tanzid Hasan Tamim was run out at the non-striker's end, which was the beginning of the slide. Three balls later, Saif attempted to hit the left-armer from a good distance, but he spooned a straightforward catch to mid-off.
Before hitting a Nathan Ellis full toss straight to mid-wicket for a 13-ball 1, Parvez Hossain Emon struggled to get going. In the sixth over, Nurul Hasan broke a streak of 25 balls without a boundary, and Hridoy added one more boundary four balls later. However, Bangladesh's Powerplay total only increased to 22 for 3 in that 11-run over.
The fights continued into the middle overs, when Adam Zampa took Nurul Hasan out with a skidder and took the maiden wicket. Bangladesh were at 37 for 5 when Johnson came back to knock out Shamim Hossain in the next over.
Along with Rishad Hossain, Captain Hridoy led a counterattack that continued even after Hossain scored 16 points. In the 19th over, Hridoy hit his seventh half-century in T20I cricket with 41 balls remaining. A few balls later, he capped it off with a crushing six off Ellis. Only two runs came off the strike after four dots, leaving Bangladesh with a meager total of 109, despite his efforts to farm the strike in the final over. On 61, Hridoy remained unbeaten.
Once Mitchell Marsh ran away with 36 out of the 19 balls he faced during the Powerplay, the rest of the game was just a formality. The captain of Australia tore into Taskin Ahmed, scoring six boundaries in the third over and four boundaries in Taskin's subsequent over. Australia, who reached 54 for the loss of Josh Inglis in the first six overs, continued to motor to the finish line, plundering 20 off Nahid Rana's first over. Cooper Connolly scored two boundaries before Marsh scored a six and a four on the speedster.
Marsh hit a slog-swept six off Rishad Hossain to complete his 23-ball half-century. Before falling to the next ball, he hit his fourth maximum, a lofted drive over extra cover off Shoriful Islam in the following over. Before Tim David hit two sixes to complete the sweep with 54 balls remaining, Australia also lost Connolly.