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Warner takes Australia closer to World Cup semifinals

By The Assam Tribune

NOTTINGHAM, June 20: Australia moved closer to World Cup semifinals after David Warner inspired the defending champions to a comfortable 48-run win over a combative Bangladesh with his second century of the tournament.

The left-handed opener contained his natural aggressive self before swinging his arms freely to build a 166-run knock, which steered Australia to a mammoth 381 for five, their second highest score in World Cup.

Warner, who had hit a hundred against Pakistan as well, added 121 runs with his skipper Aaron Finch (53) in a risk-free opening partnership and then raised a 192-run stand with Usman Khawaja (89).

He completed his 16th ODI hundred, his sixth 150-plus knock, which came off 147 balls with 14 hits to fence and five over the ropes.

The stage was set to go after the bowlers and Glenn Maxwell produced a 10-ball 32, which had three sixes and two fours. Maxwell was run out after a mix-up with Khawaja, who sent his partner back sensing risk and was caught behind minutes later to miss out on a hundred.

Faced with a daunting task to chase down the massive target, the �Tigers�, as expected, took the fight to the rival camp but ended up with 333 for eighth in stipulated overs.

Mushfiqur Rahim (102 not out), Mahmudullah (69), Tamim Iqbal (62) and in-form Shakib Al Hasan (41) gave their all in the chase but the effort still proved insufficient though the total was their best ever in ODIs.

Brief Scores: Australia: 381/5 in 50 overs (Warner 166, Khawaja 89, Finch 53; Soumya Sarkar 3/58). Bangladesh: 333/8 in 50 overs (Mushfiqur 102 n.o, Mahmudullah 69, Tamim 62, Starc 2/55, Coulter-Nile 2/58, Stoinis 2/54. � PTI

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