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Bangladesh shock reverberates with Clarke

Posted August 29, 2008 19:02:00

Michael Clarke says Australia will not be taking Bangladesh lightly in its one-day match in Darwin on Saturday, remembering the shock the Aussies received last time they did.

In 2005 Bangladesh beat Australia in Cardiff, despite being at odds of 500-1.

Australia now takes on Bangladesh in a three-match one-day series which was scheduled as a warm-up for the now-postponed Champions Trophy.

Despite being without captain Ricky Ponting, opener Matthew Hayden and speedster Brett Lee, the home side is expected to be far too good.

But stand-in Australian captain Clarke says Bangladesh has improved since the upset result in 2005.

"In international cricket you shouldn't take anything for granted and Bangladesh is a good example of that because as soon as we did, they gave our backsides a kick," he said.

Clarke says his side's batting will need to improve after the line-up struggled on a bowler-friendly pitch against the Australian Institute of Sport yesterday.

The series will be played on drop-in wickets prepared in Queensland and Clarke said a score of 240 will be competitive.

"So our bowlers will have to be on the mark and I guess our batters, especially if the conditions do move around, which I'm assuming they will with a 9:30 start," he said.

"The ball might move around a little bit. So if we end up batting first I think our batters are going to have to switch on at the start as well."

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said his side is not intimidated by Australia's batsmen because they have the same weaknesses as everyone else in the world.

Siddons said he believes his side can repeat the 2005 result by doing the basics well and consistently.

"Every batsman around the world has the same area of weakness," he said.

"If you can bowl consistently in the good spots then you are going to compete and that's our challenge to our bowlers, to be consistent int their lengths and their lines and bowl to their fields.

"There is no secrets in the world about where to bowl to players. It's been the same for 150 years."

Siddons said his team had shown it could upset the best in the world, but with just 40 wins in 184 one-day internationals it needed to do so far more often.

"We always talk about the fact that we have a win here, we have a win there," he said.

"We're trying to be more consistently competitive. Snatching a win here and snatching a win there is not what I'm about in the future, it's about being consistent.

"Coming to Australia and everyone knowing that we can be competitive, not asking 'Do you think you might win a game?'

"'How many games are you going to win?' is what I want people to ask."

Bangladesh has won just one of its last 12 one-day internationals, and that was against the United Arab Emirates.

Not since April 2007 at the World Cup, when it upset South Africa by 67 runs, has it beaten one of the premier sides in world cricket, with 24 losses in succession against Test-playing nations.

-ABC/AFP

Tags: sport, cricket, australia, nt, darwin-0800