DUBAI- - Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa bowled them to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a Twenty20 World Cup Super 12 contest on Thursday, giving their hopes of making the semi-finals a major boost.
Australia and South Africa are vying to grab the second semi-final spot from Group I, behind leaders England, and Aaron Finch's team needed a net run-rate boost to go with a victory and their bowlers rose to the occasion.
Zampa (5-19) led the rout, skittling out Bangladesh for 73 in 15 overs.
Aaron Finch smashed 40 off 20 balls as Australia romped home in 6.2 overs for their third win in four matches, while Bangladesh ended their Super 12 campaign losing all five matches.
Australia face West Indies in their final Super 12 match on Saturday when South Africa play England.
"Really clinical performance," Finch said after Australia leapfrogged South Africa into second place on account of a better net run-rate though both are level on six points.
"We thought we would take the opportunity to win big if we got the chance, but you can't plan for that."
"We have to play well against West Indies."
Zampa was named man-of-the-match after returning the best bowling figures by an Australian in the tournament's history.
Australia's bowling attack contained too much firepower for a Bangladesh side who were without their injured all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
Bangladesh were reeling at 10-3 inside three overs after Finch won the toss and unleashed his bowlers at the Dubai International Stadium.
Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar dragged the ball onto their stumps and Glenn Maxwell struck a big blow when he trapped veteran Mushfiqur Rahim lbw for one.
Mahmudullah (16) hit Mitchell Starc for back-to-back boundaries in a rare display of aggression for his side but wickets kept tumbling.
Zampa dismissed Shamim Hossain and Mahedi Hasan off successive deliveries to reduce Bangladesh to 62-7 in 11 overs.
A hat-trick eluded him, however, as Matthew Wade spilled an edge from Taskin Ahmed but Zampa went on to pick up two wickets in that over to complete his five-wicket haul.
Such a meagre total was unlikely to test Australia's batting might and Finch, who looked in a hurry to wrap up the match, smashed four sixes in his 20-ball blitz.
David Warner fell for 18 but Mitchell Marsh sealed the big win, hitting Taskin Ahmed for a six.
"When you have these sort of performances, it is hard to say much," Mahmudullah said.
"We have to figure out what went wrong when we go back to Bangladesh."
