Brett Lee claimed the first-ever hat-trick in T20 cricket as Australia dominated the tame Bangladesh batsmen in their ICC World Twenty20 Super 8 clash at the Newlands cricket ground on Sunday.
Lee dismissed Shakib al Hasan (caught behind), Mashrafe Mortaza (bowled) and Alok Kapali (leg before the wicket) in his third over to put Australia on top. Lee's previous best in this format of the game was one for 26 against New Zealand in 2004/05.
The pace spearhead ended up with three for 27 runs in his four overs as Bangladesh limped to 123 for eight in 20 overs.. In fact, twice Lee claimed wickets off free-hits which were not counted as the previous deliveries were no balls.
Lee was superbly supported by Nathan Bracken, who claimed two wickets for 14 runs in his three overs. In fact, bowling the last over of the Bangladesh innings, Bracken too was on a hat-trick!
From one extreme to the other, Bangladesh batters are sure to exasperate their supporters. While they went ballistic in their game against South Africa on Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon saw them so stubbornly preserving their wickets against Australia that they forgot that they were allowed just 20 overs to bat.Crowds flocking the Newlands cricket ground on Sunday hoping to see yet another exciting – never mind if it's suicidal at times – Bangladesh batting display were in for a disappointment.
So hell bent were the Bangladeshis on preserving the wickets in this match that they completely forget their natural game. They batted slower than they would in a normal ODI. Aftab Ahmed, who was a raging bull against South Africa the other evening, scored 31 off 34 balls with just two fours on Sunday. Tamim Iqbal scored 32, but those came off 40 balls and didn't do too much for his side.
Balance between offense and defense is the key in Twenty20, something which the inexperienced Bangladeshis have not yet learnt. Either they are Mad Max or strokeless wonders. Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bowl, but he didn't have to worry too much. Thanks to the strange Bangladesh attitude, none of his bowlers went for big runs. Mitchell Johnson gave away 28 runs for one wicket in his four overs, and he was the most expensive among the seamers.
Stuart Clark gave away just 13 runs in his four overs and picked up one wicket.Michael Clark's puppy left-arm spin went for 28 runs in three overs when they should have been worth much more. Clarke even had a wicket against his name.
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