Australia easily won the first of three one-day cricket internationals against Bangladesh on Saturday, cruising to 107-2 to overcome the visitors' total with more then 160 balls to spare.
Australian opener Matthew Hayden scored 46, including a four to end the match in the 23rd over, while captain Ricky Ponting, who sent Bangladesh in to bat, picked up 29 before being bowled in the second-last over of the eight-wicket win.
Before a sellout crowd of 8,308, Australia scored its fourth win in as many starts over Bangladesh. Not once in those four matches has Australia faced more than 26 overs in chasing small totals.
PHOTO: AP
The match finished more than 2 1-2 hours early. In the field, Bangladesh had to do without wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud, who was unable to wear the gloves after Australian bowler Brett Lee, who took 4-25 in eight overs, smashed Mashud's thumb against the bat handle during the Bangladesh innings.
Damien Martyn showed he has made a full recovery from the broken finger he sustained in the World Cup when he ran out opener Hannan Sarkar (1) in the second over.
Martyn, in his first match since the World Cup final, pounced on a ball and returned it alongside the stumps to Brad Hogg as Sarkar stuttered mid-pitch before being given out by the third umpire.
Lee then took three wickets in his next three overs as his pace and menacing bounce had the Bangladesh top order in trouble.
Habibul Bashar (0) edged one to Adam Gilchrist before Al-Sahariar (8) gave Matthew Hayden a regulation first slip chance.
Alok Kapali (0) lost his leg stump when he strayed across the crease as a leg-side delivery straightened up as it went behind him. Lee then had Sanwar Hossain (7) caught behind as Bangladesh slipped to 33-5 in 12 overs.
Jason Gillespie (3-23) replaced Lee as the downwind bowler and was immediately hit for three boundaries from five balls by the dashing Tushar Imran.
But on the last ball of the over Tushar (28) couldn't avoid a ball which came back at him and dabbed a catch to Ponting at second slip.
Gillespie continued the wicket-taking from the Mulgrave Road end when Mashud (18) was trapped leg before wicket by a slower ball.
Bangladesh crept past its lowest score in one-day cricket of 76 but slipped to 80-8 when Andrew Symonds took an athletic catch diving forward from third slip to give Gillespie his third wicket.
Andy Bichel wrapped up the innings with two wickets in his fifth over, leaving Bangladesh captain Khaled Mahmud on 25 not out.
The second match in the series is scheduled for Cairns on Sunday, also a sellout, with the third on Wednesday in Darwin. Australia earlier won two test matches against Bangladesh.
England versus South Africa
Captain Graeme Smith on Friday became the first South African to score back-to-back double centuries in tests as the Proteas took control of the second test against England at Lord's.
Smith scored an unbeaten 214 and shared a record 257 runs for the second wicket with Gary Kirsten (108) to lift South Africa to 412 for two at stumps on the rain-hit second day.
Rain delayed the start of play by 75 minutes, and 18 overs were lost to bad light.
South Africa has a 239-run lead after dismissing Michael Vaughan's team for a lowly 173 on the first day.
The tourists began the day on 151 for one.
After rain washed out four sessions in the first test at Edgbaston and denied the tourists a chance of forcing a victory, South Africa has a good chance of taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
The 22-year-old Smith, playing in only his 12th test and the fourth as captain, went into the test with 277 and 85 in the first test.
Only the evergreen Australian Don Bradman, Englishman Walter Hammond and Indian Vinod Kambli have scored double tons in back-to-back tests. Bradman and Hammond achieved the feat twice in their careers.
Smith is also the first South African to score a double century at Lord's -- the spiritual home of cricket.
He's the sixth touring batsman since Australians Bradman and Bill Brown, New Zealand's Martin Donnelly, the West Indies' Gordon Greenidge and Pakistan's Moshin Khan.
Smith batted stubbornly against England's bowling attack that lacked direction.
His three visits to the crease has totaled 576 runs in the series, and he has batted for more than 18 1/2 hours. With three tests and a possible six innings remaining, Bradman's record 974 runs against England in 1930 could be Smith's next target.
He has struck 29 boundaries off 301 balls after batting for seven hours and 42 minutes.
Smith got standing ovations from a capacity 32,000 crowd when he reached the 100 and 200 -- a momentous moment in a fledgling test career.
When he replaced former captain Shaun Pollock, Smith became the second youngest captain in the history of test cricket.
Starting the day on 80, he took just 20 balls to race to his century. He then resigned to play second fiddle to Kirsten, who scored his 17th hundred and the fourth against England in his 91st test.
After dismissing opener Herschelle Gibbs for 49 runs following a 133-run opening stand, England had to wait almost five hours to claim its second wicket.
Part-time seamer Anthony McGrath finally forced Kirsten to play on after he had faced 244 balls and hit 14 fours.
England's cause was not helped when second slip Mark Butcher dropped Kirsten on 54.
The stand eclipsed the 238 Kirsten shared with Jacques Kallis at Old Trafford in South Africa's last visit here in 1998.
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