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Connolly century sets up dramatic Australia ODI win over Bangladesh / Photo: © AFP
Connolly century sets up dramatic Australia ODI win over Bangladesh
Opener Cooper Connolly blazed 149 runs off 134 balls to lead Australia to a dramatic one-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the third and final one-day match in Mirpur on Sunday.
Bangladesh had already clinched the series by winning the first two matches, but Cooper's innings overshadowed a career-best 6-48 by left-arm pace bowler Shoriful Islam.
Set 275 to win, Australia scraped home with three balls to spare when Adam Zampa hit a cover drive to the boundary off Taskin Ahmed.
Bangladesh earlier reached 274-5 after winning the toss, with Towhid Hridoy leading the way with a composed innings of 83 off 88 balls.
Australia started their run chase strongly, racing to 40 before losing captain Josh Inglis to Shoriful in the fifth over.
Shoriful then bowled Matt Renshaw for a duck two balls later to have Australia at 40-2.
Australia were then wobbling at 70-3 when Alex Carey fell for eight to a stunning catch by Soumya Sarkar at short cover off Taskin.
Connolly refused to buckle, the 25-year-old opener sharing a 64-run stand with Marnus Labuschagne (29) and then similarly valuable partnerships with Cameron Green and Oliver Peake.
Shoriful removed Peake and Xavier Bartlett with successive deliveries, but Ben Dwarshuis denied him the hat-trick.
Dwarshuis's dismissal soon after left Australia needing five runs from 15 balls with two wickets in hand.
Tanzid Hasan then dropped a straightforward chance at gully off Zampa that eemed to deflate Bangladesh.
Connolly finally fell to Mustafizur after scoring his first ODI century, an innings studded with 13 fours and six sixes.
That left Australia four runs short with nine balls remaining, with Zampa and tail-ender Riley Meredith at the crease.
Zampa then found the cover boundary on the third ball of the final over from Taskin.
In Bangladesh's innings, Litton Das (58) and Mosaddek Hossain (56) made unbeaten half-centuries to provide support for Hridoy, who scored his 13th ODI half-century.
Litton retired hurt on 48 with a muscle injury but returned to bring up his first ODI fifty at Mirpur.
Bartlett and Renshaw picked up two wickets apiece for Australia.
N. Gonçalves--JDB
