3rd T20I: Nathan Ellis hat-trick proved in vain as Bangladesh secure 1st-ever series vs Australia
Bangladesh created history on Friday when they beat Australia by 10 runs in the third T20I in Dhaka to secure their first ever series win against Australia in any format in international cricket. Now the hosts are leading in a series of 5 matches with a score of 3 : 0.
Chasing a challenging 128 for victory, Australia were stopped at 117 for 4 in 20 overs with Shoriful Islam picking a couple of wickets while Shakib Al Hasan and Nasum Ahmed took one each.
The batting once again let Australia down for the third game in succession as they struggled on the sluggish pitch at the National Stadium in Dhaka.
In-form Mitchell Marsh finally scored a fifty after identical scores of 45 in the first-two games but his knock went in vain as the rest failed to fire once again. Opener Ben McDermott made 35 while Alex Carey scored 20 not out while the remaining three batsmen couldn’t even get up to double figures.
Earlier, a hat-trick on debut from Nathan Ellis restricted the hosts to 127 for 9 in 20 overs after Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first.
Captain Mahmudullah led from the front with 51 off 47 balls while Shakib Al Hasan made 26.
But it was the T20I debutant Nathan Ellis who stole the show with figures of 3 for 34 from his 4 overs.
The 26-year-old right-arm Ellis took the wickets of captain Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman off successive deliveries in the final over to become the first bowler in T20I history to pick a hat-trick on debut. Overall, Ellis is the 17th bowler to take a T20I hat-trick.
Ellis is only the third Aussie to take a T20I hat-trick after speedster Brett Lee and spinner Ashton Agar. Notably, both Lee and Agar took hat-tricks in winning causes for Australia.
The final two-matches of the series will be played on August 7 and 9 at the same venue.
