Scorecard:

Australia: 141 for 7 (20 overs)

(Hussey 47 off 29 balls, Smith 27 off 18 balls, Shakib 2 for 24, Mortaza 2 for 28)

Bangladesh: 114 all out (18.4 overs)

(Shakib 28 off 28 balls, Rahim 24 off 25 balls, Nannes 4 for 18, Smith 2 for 28)

Australian batsmen had a big nightmare tackling the Bangladesh attack. Time and again, yours truly has extolled the virtues of the Bangladesh attack and why it is never to be taken lightly. Surely sitting at 65 for 6 in 12.5 overs Australia might not have agreed more, and were looking desperately for the key out of this tight room. Just a little more pressure and the game would have gone Bangladesh’s way. Somehow as soon as Ashraful’s overs ended, Australia launched a counter attack. Mike Hussey and Smith did the England “hope trick” by starting their batting at No. 7 and 8! Learn more about the “hope trick” at the end of this article.

Bangladesh were never in the fray, but ful credit to Shakib for being there and waging a battle till the end. Shakib is one of the world’s best all rounders. And the list also include one Ten Doeschate from Holland. Others like Kallis are also there near the top.

Hope Trick:

This trick is known to work well against minnows - it throws them off track. The batsmen attack best when the bowlers are most hopeful. So to create “hope” they lose they top order and then attack the elated bowlers. Also, in “high hopes” as the wickets are falling, you can expect the opposition to throw their original bowling strategy to wind and throw their best bowlers at the batsmen very early in the hope of getting them all out. Now, with the main bowlers out of the way the tail-end batsmen can chew upon the tail-end bowlers. Mostly used when batting first. This also sets up a small total. Now the “hope trick” is a double banger. So when the opposition batsmen continue to tramp the hope ladder (throw caution to the wind) you can have the opposition top order on the mat by easily targeting those needlessly attacking batsmen. By the time they realise their folly they would also lost their top order. But since you’re playing with 5 good bowlers you can claim the tail end very easily.
Caution: You need to have tail-end batsmen to try this. Use this sparingly against oppositions playing with not more than 3 useful bowlers.

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