Litchfield, Sutherland power Australia to dominant win over Bangladesh

In the first match of the three-match series, Bangladesh Women's ODI debut in Australia ended in a crushing seven-wicket defeat in Brisbane.

Under lights, Australia made short work of the 167-run chase, led by Phoebe Litchfield’s enterprising 77 off 57, giving Bangladesh’s bowlers little opportunity to make a game out of it.

Australia chose to bowl first, scoring right away. Megan Schutt reared one in sharply into Fargana Hogue, who could only edge it to slips. She took another hit with the first move in her next over, trapping Sarmin Sultana in front of the stumps with it. Her opening spell of five overs had two maidens, conceding just six runs.

Sharmin Akhter kept one end going, but Annabel Sutherland accounted for her in her first over, thanks to a brilliant catch at short square leg by Alana King. As Bangladesh became a shell, the initial blows were followed by a prolonged period of preservation.

Along with Nigar Sultana, Shorna Akhter pitched in: Bangladesh only scored 40 runs between overs 15 and 30. They lost only one wicket, but it pulled the run-rate down considerably. Sultana was sucked into a controlled drive by Tahlia McGrath after the lengthy vigil. Georgia Wareham successfully targeted the stumps to end Shorna's lengthy and laborious knock shortly thereafter, despite obtaining fewer turns than King.

Ritu Moni gave Bangladesh a push toward the end, to some extent, even though she quickly ran out of partners. Placed at 130/7 after 40 overs, they couldn’t find a big over and were left to make do with the odd boundary, finishing on 166. Sutherland scored a four-fer at the end.

Without any real scoreboard pressure, Australia’s openers quickly took off. Phoebe Litchfield used her feet to counter the ball's early shape by cleverly exploiting the gaps on the off side. Habiba Islam, a debutante of seventeen years old, disrupted the flow by snatching Georgia Voll from a bouncer, but it had no effect on Litchfield's run scoring. Next over, she drilled a hat-trick of fours off Marufa. When Habiba dropped one in short, she promptly deposited it over deep mid-wicket.

Australia had soared to 74/1 at the 10-over mark. Rabeya Khan had to leave the following ball with a physiotherapist because her shoulder appeared to have jammed.

Ellyse Perry, who is entering her 20th year playing international cricket, was content to nudge along while Litchfield brought out the sweeps to eliminate the turn and scored the majority of the runs. Despite Rabeya's return to account for Litchfield, Australia was well on their way. Bangladesh got one last consolation when Hogue caught Beth Mooney in the diving position and sent her back, giving Habiba another chance to enjoy her debut. Perry breezed through the remaining runs with ease with Sutherland as company.