Bangladesh search for some fight

Australia want to wrap up the series as comfortably as possible after thrashing Bangladesh in the first two games.

Match facts
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Start time 9.30am (local)

The Big Picture

Australia have wrapped up the three-match series by winning the first two matches but it is the one-sided nature of those games that is the biggest concern for Bangladesh. The first was decided by 180 runs, the second by eight wickets. Bangladesh made 74 in the opening game and 117 on Wednesday. The captain Mohammad Ashraful was critical of his side and said it was a much better team than the results reflected, although the men lacked confidence against the world's top team. Bangladesh will be aiming for a competitive effort to finish the series. For Michael Clarke, the goals are not only to win but also to give some of Australia's lesser-known players a chance to shine.

ODI form guide

Australia - WWWWW (most recent first)
Bangladesh - LLLLL

Team news

Australia's desire to make absolutely certain of a 3-0 result means they are unlikely to tinker with their best eleven. In any case, they have little choice. Brett Geeves is the only man who could potentially come in, having picked up two wickets on debut in the opening game.

Australia (possible) 1 Shane Watson, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 Brad Haddin (wk), 7 Cameron White, 8 James Hopes, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart Clark.

A few players showed promising signs in the second match. Dhiman Ghosh's lower-order striking was briefly entertaining and Junaid Siddique and Shakib Al Hasan held off the Australia attack for some time. With Raqibul Hasan unavailable due to his broken thumb their batting options are limited and the same top order might be retained.

Bangladesh (possible) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Mehrab Hossain jnr, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Mohammad Ashraful (capt), 5 Shakib al Hasan, 6 Alok Kapali, 7 Dhiman Ghosh (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Nazmul Hossain, 11 Shahadat Hossain.

Watch out for ...

Nathan Bracken Did the top-order damage on Wednesday with some excellent swing bowling. If Bangladesh bat first again he could the man to make quick inroads into their line-up. Appears comfortable as the leader of an attack missing Brett Lee and his consistency and accuracy continue to make up for his lack of genuine speed.

Shakib Al Hasan One of the few men to have shown impressive glimpses in both games, Shakib showed some much-needed patience in compiling 19 in the second match. His dismissal came from a good Mitchell Johnson inswinger rather than a loose stroke and Bangladesh will be hoping he can again be composed on Saturday. His left-arm spin has been just as important and he has four wickets, including the cheap removal of Clarke in both games.

Umpires Amiesh Saheba, Peter Parker.

Pitch and conditions

The drop-in pitches in Darwin have not been the easiest surfaces to bat on, although Australia have made it look considerably simpler than Bangladesh. The players will be expecting early seam and swing and whoever bats first must work hard through the first hour.

Weather

Another hot and sunny day is predicted, with a top temperature of 34 degrees.

Stats and trivia

Bangladesh have won one of their past 14 one-day internationals, with the only success coming against the United Arab Emirates. In the same time they have won the toss on ten occasions.

In the past two matches, Cameron White has more than doubled his wicket tally in ODIs.

Bracken needs two more victims to become the seventh Australian to claim 150 one-day international wickets.

Quotes

"I'd like to see if we could do another number on them and hopefully get them out for not many, or if we bat first, get a lot of runs."
Stuart Clark, the Australia fast bowler.

"Whatever we are practising and whatever we are planning, we are just not being able to implement those in the games, out there in the middle."
Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain.