365 Sporting Days

Having seen Australia ‘rained off’ at Edgbaston I was hoping for a better day at The Oval. The fact I didn’t get soaked did I suppose mean it was better, but the result for the cricket was to be the same.

I was sitting in the new Peter May Stand which meant I was amongst the very passionate and vocal Bangladesh fans which was great fun!

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat, Tamim Iqbal had made a great century against England, making the whole thing look effortless.  He had another very fine innings, but this time fell short of that 100 by 5.  This was a grittier innings, he made 95 from 114 balls, and unlike the effort against England had little support from his team mates.

Only Shakib with 29 and Mehedi with 14 made double figures, as the Australian bowlers found their stride.  Mitch Starc hadn’t had a happy time at Edgbaston but he dispatched Tamim and cleared up the lower order to finish with 4 for 29 form his 8.3 overs.  Bangladesh were skittled out for 182.

A target that would have been a walk in the park for this strong Australian lie up, however the rain had other plans.  Duckworth Lewis was always going to be a factor, but the rain didn’t allow 20 overs in this second innings.

Aaron Finch was out LBW in the 8th over for 19, but David Warner with 40 and Steven Smith with 22 were looking well set when the rain made an unwelcome appearance.  In spite of the best efforts of the ground staff, only 16 overs were bowled and yet again Australia had a no result match.