Australia beat Bangladesh by three wickets in 4th T20

Dan Christian smashed 39 and spinner Mitchell Swepson returned figures of 3-12 as Australia edged out Bangladesh by three wickets for a consolation Twenty20 victory on Saturday.

Chasing 105 for victory, Australia depended on Christian's 15-ball blitz and Ashton Agar's 27 to achieve their target in 19 overs in Dhaka.

Bangladesh, who sealed their first ever series win over Australia after winning the third match on Friday, lead 3-1.

Christian, who came in at number three ahead of the in-form Mitchell Marsh, hit five sixes off a Shakib Al Hasan over to set the chase in Australia's favour in a low-scoring contest after Bangladesh managed 104-9.

Bangladesh hit back after Mustafizur Rahman took two wickets including Christian's key scalp and Mahedi Hasan bowled Marsh for 11.

Number eight Agar then hit a crucial cameo off 27 balls and after his dismissal Ashton Turner and Andrew Tye took the team home.

Australia's decision to include leg-spinner Swepson and Tye in the team reaped results with the bowlers sharing six wickets between them.

Pace bowler Josh Hazlewood did the early damage after sending back Soumya Sarkar for eight and star batsman Shakib caught behind for 15.

But it was Swepson's successive strikes to dismiss skipper Mahmudullah Riyad and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan, both on nought, in the 11th over that rattled Bangladesh.

Afif Hossain (20) and Mahedi Hasan (23) helped take the total past 100 but Tye struck thrice with his medium-pace bowling to keep Bangladesh in check.

Shoriful Islam, who has been reprimanded by the International Cricket Committee for his aggressive celebration after dismissing Mitchell Marsh in his team's previous match, was out on the final ball of the Bangladesh innings.

The fifth T20 is on Monday. 

Bangladesh v Australia 4th T20 scoreboard

Bangladesh

Mohammad Naim c Wade b Swepson                      28

Soumya Sarkar c Carey b Hazlewood                    8

Shakib Al Hasan c Wade b Hazlewood                  15

Mahmudullah Riyad lbw b Swepson                      0

Nurul Hasan lbw b Swepson                            0

Afif Hossain c Henriques b Agar                     20

Shamim Hossain c Carey b Tye                         3

Mahedi Hasan c Carey b Tye                          23

Nasum Ahmed not out                                  2

Shoriful Islam c McDermott b Tye                     0

Extras (lb1, w3, nb1)                                5

Total (9 wickets, 20 overs)                        104

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Soumya), 248 (Shakib), 3-51 (Mahmudullah), 4-51 (Nurul Hasan, 10.6 ov), 5-68 (Naim), 6-78 (Afif), 7-83 (Shamim), 8-104 (Mahedi), 9-104 (Shoriful)

Did not bat: Mustafizur Rahman

Bowling: Turner 4-0-22-0 (w2), Hazlewood 4-0-24-2 (nb1), Agar 4-0-22-1 (w1), Tye 3-0-18-3, Swepson 4-0-12-3, Henriques 1-0-5-0

Australia (target 105)

Ben McDermott lbw b Nasum Ahmed                      5

M. Wade b Mahedi Hasan                               2

D. Christian c Shamim Hossain b Mustafizur Rahman   39

M. Marsh b Mahedi Hasan                             11

M. Henriques run out (Shakib Al Hasan)               4

A. Carey lbw b Mustafizur Rahman                     1

A. Turner not out                                    9

A. Agar c Shamim Hossain b Shoriful Islam           27

Andrew Tye  not out                                  4

Extras (lb1, w2)                                     3

Total (7 wickets, 19 overs)                        105

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Wade), 2-47 (McDermott), 3-49 (Christian), 4-60 (Henriques), 5-63 (Carey), 6-65 (Marsh), 7-99 (Agar)

Did not bat: M. Swepson, J. Hazlewood

Bowling: Mahedi 4-0-17-2, Shakib 4-0-50-0 (w1), Nasum 4-0-17-1 (w1), Mustafizur 4-1-9-2, Shoriful 2-0-8-1, Mahmudullah 1-0-3-0

Toss: Bangladesh

Result: Australia won by three wickets