Australia slumped to an all-time low in their fifth T20 International against Bangladesh, being bowled out for 62 in response to the home side’s 122-8 and losing the series 4-1. The innings lasted just 13.4 overs, their shortest in 144 years. Matthew Wade, who made 22, and Ben McDermott, with 17, were the only two Australian batsman to pass four.
The tourists were missing their captain Aaron Finch, talismanic batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith, and the often-electrifying all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, but there will be no excuses made for what was, with respect to a brilliant Bangladesh team, a humiliating tour that leaves their World Cup preparations in tatters.
The tournament begins on 17 October in the United Arab Emirates, and five games to work out strategies and key men in the relatively akin conditions of Bangladesh seemed a great opportunity. That has been emphatically spurned, and come October it appears the men in green and gold will be relying to an unhealthy extent on the runs of Finch, Warner and Smith, devoid of anything like the depth of rivals India and England.
