Swingin' Schutt sets up ODI series sweep for Australia with 4 for 16

Megan Schutt struck thrice in the powerplay after Australia asked Bangladesh to bat first for the third game in a row.

Bangladesh found themselves at 18 for 3 in nine overs - the third time in as many matches on tour that they lost three wickets within the first ten overs.

Half-centuries from Shorna Akter and Sharmin Akhter helped Bangladesh huff and puff their way to 172, which Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland knocked off within 23 overs for another one-sided win and a 3-0 series sweep.

Schutt opened the bowling and bowled her ten overs on the go, adding the wicket of Sobhana Mostary, century-maker in the second ODI, to finish with stunning figures of 10-5-16-4. She swung the ball prodigiously and didn't allow Bangladesh to get going at all.

Kim Garth also moved the ball around and was unlucky to end wicketless as she and Schutt bowled unchanged for the first 17 overs. Garth dangled the ball in the right areas and drew the outside edge plenty of times but didn't get anything in the wickets' column.

The ball swung sharply till around the halfway point in Bangladesh's innings, and the batters were often left searching for it. They ended up facing 50 dots in the first ten overs.

As for the early wickets, Murshida Khatun fended an outswinger from Schutt to gully in the third over as Australia mostly went on the fuller side with the new ball; when Schutt changed up to bowl a bouncer, Sarmin Sultana hooked it to fine leg in the seventh over; Schutt then got one to straighten outside off, and Nigar Sultana jabbed it to the wicketkeeper; Schutt struck for the fourth time when Mostary edged an inswinger to gully.

But Sharmin had began to settle after the early wobble. She confidently drove Garth for back-to-back fours to end the 16th over but, with Bangladesh going nowhere at 45 for 4, Sharmin and Shorna decided to play the waiting game.

Both batters enjoyed some luck and bagged the occasional boundary in the middle overs. But the run rate was never too far above three an over.