Alana King gave Australia’s top-order credit for providing information about the pitch that let her play a pivotal role in the opening match of the ODI series against Bangladesh on Thursday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The world champions defeated the hosts by 118 runs and bundled them out for 95 runs, taking a 1-0 series lead. In actuality, Australia scored just 213, having previously dropped to 78/5. Annabel Sutherland’s flawless 58 and King’s 31-ball 46, which featured a 29-run attack on Fahima Khatun in the final over of the innings, saved them.
As she smashed four maximums and another boundary in the penultimate over, King, who beat Shelly Nitschke’s record of the most sixes in her innings for Australia, noted that she had not set any particular goals for herself. Not very organized. We can go for as many or as high of a run total as we like in this last over. And I’m happy to have made a few connections,” she remarked following the victory.
“The last over was just a little entertaining. They didn’t seem to invite me to join in on the fun, in my opinion. It was the final over. We had over 200 in mind, and Annabel allowed me a wide reign. That being said, the last section was excellent.
“It was undoubtedly difficult conditions early on. Although we’re still getting used to the conditions in Bangladesh, I believe the top leadership did a great job of assessing the situation early on and informing the dressing room of it. I felt Ash Gardner, Beth Mooney, and Annabel batted pretty well. They thus laid the groundwork for me to enter at the conclusion and enjoy myself.
“Our only goal was to establish a collaboration. Additionally, I believe that the message that was delivered to the dugout was that it would be easier to bat the longer you stayed in. particularly when the pitch is providing a lot and the ball is doing a lot. I believe Annabel captured it quite well. She entered during a difficult time. I would say that she really grinded out her first few balls—roughly the first thirty balls. She was batting very freely near the conclusion of the inning, as you could see. Thus, in my opinion, on these pitches, you put in the early work and earn the rewards later,” the speaker continued.
Even though Bangladesh was driven into a corner at one point in the game, Nahida Akhter believed that their opponents were able to recover because of some sloppy bowling. After the game, Nahida told reporters, “The difference is that we bowled badly and we can do better than this.”
At one point, after losing five wickets, they got set, and it would have been better for us if we could have broken that partnership. We obviously had the experience, but because they could play so smoothly, our bowling was a disorganized mess that hurt us. Although they are seasoned and could play, we were never overconfident,” she continued.
After losing their final eight wickets for just 25 runs, Bangladesh was down to 70/2 at one stage. According to Nahida, the three run-outs of Nigar Sultana, Fahima Khatun, and Ritu Moni put the team in a position from which they were unable to rally.
“Our hitting lineup had two or three runouts, so we were behind. This is a common occurrence in cricket. We weren’t psychologically lagging behind them, in my opinion. We can definitely win this,” she continued.
