Two days after he rewrote the record books, Shane Watson threatened to destroy Bangladesh again. But by the halfway point of Australia's innings, Abdur Razzak had led a fightback by the local attack and while a daunting total was still on the cards,
Bangladesh had snapped up three top-order wickets and slowed the scoring rate significantly.Watson and Ricky Ponting, who opened for just the third time in his ODI career, had raced to 110 for 0 in the 12th over after the captain Michael Clarke won the toss and chose to bat. However, Watson and Ponting both fell to the spin of Razzak, before his fellow left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo snaffled a return catch to end Australia's experiment of promoting Steven Smith (5) to No. 4.
That left Clarke in charge of building Australia's total, and after 25 overs he was on 28 with Michael Hussey on 21, and the visitors had reached 176 for 3. Callum Ferguson was padded up to come in next and was set to be followed by Tim Paine, who was given his first match after a World Cup spent on the sidelines, as the Australians rested Brad Haddin.
The tempo of Australia's innings was back in slightly more normal territory, which certainly hadn't been the case while Watson and Ponting were at the crease. On Monday, Watson struck a world record 15 sixes in his unbeaten 185, an innings that was terminated after 26 overs because Australia had successfully chased Bangladesh's target.
Today, with 50 overs available to him, Watson picked up where he left off. He pulled a boundary from the third ball of the match, off the bowling of Shafiul Islam, and crunched another four through cover two deliveries later. Four fours followed in Shafiul's next over, and when the spinners came on, Watson continued to slap and slog-sweep boundaries and sixes at will.
He brought up his half-century from 25 deliveries and by the time he misjudged the turn and slower pace of a Razzak delivery and was bowled trying to sweep, Watson had made 72 from 40 balls with 11 fours and three sixes. Australia's new vice-captain was out, but has clearly enjoyed his first tour with the added responsibility.
At the other end, the man who has had all that accountability on his shoulders as leader for nearly a decade was also having a good time in his new role. Ponting played with freedom, though nothing like the abandon of Watson, and a pull for six off Mashrafe Mortaza was vintage Ponting. Eventually, he too fell attempting a sweep, when he was lbw to Razzak for 47.
But the good balls had been too few and far between for Bangladesh in the early stages. The seamers especially were wayward, although it didn't help that Shakib Al Hasan waited until the ninth over to introduce spin. By then, the Australians were 80 for 0 and were scoring at ten an over. If the horse hadn't already bolted, it had at least worked out that the gate was open.
The Australians promoted Smith to No. 4 to give him the chance to build a sizeable innings, but he couldn't grasp the opportunity when Shuvo did. But while Bangladesh had fought back, they were still going to require several quick wickets, or a monumental batting display, to avoid handing Australia a clean sweep.
