An inspired century (101) from Michael Clarke in his first match as a captain after Ponting stepped down, helped Australia beat Bangladesh by 60 runs in the first ODI at the at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field and their decision paid off as Mortaza cleaned up Brad Haddin (10) via a slower delivery in just the fourth over of the game. Watson and Ponting then put on 65 runs for the second wicket with Ponting looking in ominous touch hitting five fours and a six in his innings of 34 off 31 deliveries before being run out via a horrible mix-up with Watson going for a third run.
Ponting was replaced by Clarke who declared his intentions right from the word go hitting a powerful pull off Shakib for a boundary. Just when it seemed Watson was settling down, disaster struck when Abdur Razzaq had him trapped leg before wicket for 37 in the next over to reduce Australia to 90 for 3 in the 14th over. Clarke and Cameron White played very cautiously adding just 48 runs from 16 overs and Bangladesh were finally rewarded for their tight bowling in the 30th over when White was removed by Suhrawadi Shuvo for a scratchy 20 off 50 deliveries.
Meanwhile Clarke was playing sensibly and brought up his half-century off 73 balls as he added 84 runs from 16 overs with Mike Hussey to take the score to 222 in the 45th over. Hussey then departed trying to improve the scoring rate caught at long off off the bowling of Suhrawadi Shuvo. Shuvo struck again in the same over cleaning up Steven Smith for one. But Michael Clarke led from the front as he added quick-fire 39 runs from four overs with Mitchell Johnson bringing up his century with a classy pulled six over mid-wicket. He was finally removed off the penultimate delivery of the over but the damage had already been done and Johnson finished off the innings in style hitting a huge six off the last delivery to post a challenging total of 270.
In reply, Bangladesh started poorly and were reduced to 9-2 in just the fourth over as Imrul Kayes was caught behind off Brett Lee while Shahriar Nafees was trapped leg before wicket by Johnson. Tamim Iqbal who seemed to be playing an uncharacteristically slow innings then tried to bring some stability to the innings adding 40 runs from nine overs with Raqibul Hasan.
Raqibul was finally removed by John Hastings in the 13th over, brilliantly caught by Watson at short extra cover as Bangladesh were reduced to 49 for 3. Tamim Iqbal then added 67 cautious runs with Shakib Al Hasan bringing up his half-century off 76 deliveries.
Bangladesh then received a huge blow when Tamim Iqbal departed trying to up the run rate only to be caught on the mid-wicket boundary off Doherty. His innings of 62 from 89 balls included four hits to the fence and one over it. Some tight bowling from the Australians meant that the Bangladeshi's were well behind the required run rate throughout, Shakib then added 33 runs from 11 overs with Mushfiqur Rahim to take the score to 149 in the 41st over. With 121 needed off last nine overs, Shakib departed for a very slow 51 from 90 deliveries trying to go for a big shot off Smith. Mushfiqur Rahim (45*) and Mahmudullah (28*) fought bravely adding 61 unbeaten runs off nine overs but were caught well short of the target as the finished on 210 for 5, 61 runs short of the target.
Michael Clarke was named the man of the match for his brilliant innings of 101 from 111 deliveries with six hits to the fence and two over it.
Result: Australia won by 60 runs
Scores: Australia: 270/7
Bangladesh: 210/5
Man of the Match: Michael Clarke
Series: Australia leads the 3-match series 1-0
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