Australia won the toss on an unusually sunny morning at Riverside, Chester-le-Street, and as usual sent the opposition in to bat. This ground has apparently replaced Derby as the coldest in England; even in the sun there was a strong cold wind. There was a strong Bangladeshi contingent present, roaring approval with every run scored.

Khaled opened his score with a handsome off-drive for three off McGrath, which charmed the Australian fast bowler no end. Both batsmen were in aggressive mood, living dangerously and wafting outside the off stump, usually missing the ball completely and occasionally scoring from fortuitous snicks. Both batsmen looked rather out of their depth at times but played positively and stuck to their task. McGrath looked to be struggling to find his direction until he produced a straight one that had Khaled lbw, moving across right in front.

Meerab continued to slash productively over the slips whenever given the opportunity, and Steve Waugh may have missed a trick in failing to place a fielder closer and finer to accept a catch. The batsmen gained in confidence and played some good strokes, sometimes taking the aerial route. Faruk produced a fine straight drive to the boundary off McGrath, who was clearly not at his best although by no means wayward. But the pace bowler took his revenge off the next ball, producing a flier that had Faruk fending the ball into the gully, where Ponting dived forward to take a good low catch. Naimur was not to last long, lashing out at Moody but hitting a low catch directly to Ponting at backward point.

Meerab hit an involuntary boundary when he ducked and stuck his bat up to a short ball from Julian, and the ball lobbed off the edge past the keeper to the fine-leg boundary. A few balls later he had to show his footballing skills as he almost played a ball on to his stumps, but looked more composed in cutting the next delivery neatly, but straight to gully. Next over, though, his valuable innings came to a close, as he clipped a ball from Moody directly at Ponting in the gully for a straight-forward catch, the fielder's third of the day. With their inspiration gone, Bangladesh struggled to come to terms with the bowling again.

Waugh finally decided it was time to give Warne a turn with the ball. He had an optimistic lbw appeal turned down first ball, but did not appear to cause the batsmen undue concern for their wickets. They found him very difficult to get away, though, and he was to bowl his ten overs for only 18 runs.

Fleming accounted for Aminul, trying to pull a ball that was not short enough and dragging it on to his stumps. With the score stuck on 99 Warne finally won an lbw decision, umpire Steve Bucknor as usual taking a long time to give the verdict - perhaps he has a secret hot line to the third umpire.

Minazul, Man of the Match in Bangladesh's recent victory over Scotland, eventually brought up the hundred with a single cut to third man. Then he opened his shoulders against Warne and hit a powerful on-drive that only just failed to carry for six. He had a lucky escape against Julian, cutting a ball at shoulder height between the keeper and Warne at first slip; both left it to the other.

Minazul's innings nearly came to an untimely end when he risked a run to a misfield by Ponting at backward point, and a direct hit at the bowler's end found him only just home. In the next over an attempted big hit off Julian shot to the very fine leg boundary off the inside edge. But, tied down, the batsmen made it their policy to keep alert for quick singles and the score began to progress again. Warne continued to test them, but they were not intimidated and kept looking for runs, although able to score at nothing like the required rate to set a reasonable target.

Khaled Masud finally fell, lbw to Moody, after a fighting innings of 17, and Bangladesh were 143 for eight. Enamul fortuitously got off the mark first ball, snicking a catch to the vacant first-slip position; Gilchrist diving was unable to take it and it shot to the boundary.

Minazul and Enamul dabbed, drove and scampered ones and occasional twos, but were rarely able to get anything through tight Australian fielding, apart from the occasional snick to an unexpected place. The deep fielders were well placed, but not to cut off the unintentional snick to fine leg or 'deep slip'. But the Australians, whose bowling was accurate enough without being penetrative, found difficulty in breaking through. A rare intentional boundary came when Minazul played a fine cover drive off McGrath to take himself to 49. The left-handed Enamul played positively, giving the appearance of being a big hitter but rarely hitting powerfully enough to threaten the boundary.

Minazul eventually drove Fleming to extra cover in the final over to bring up another well-deserved fifty. A scampered leg-bye off the final ball took Bangladesh to a creditable 178. Australia returned to their dressing room with the news that the West Indies had already beaten Scotland and there is a strong possibility that run rates may be crucial in deciding Group B. With this in mind, the Australians are likely to aim to reach their target of 179 in rather a hurry.

A good opening over from Hasibul forced Australia once again to realise that they cannot take liberties with Bangladesh. Mark Waugh was forced to play with circumspection and, before there was a run on the board, he was dropped low in the gully off a hard slash. The Australians openers did not look comfortable at first, perhaps too concerned with their team's desire to improve their scoring rate, but in the fourth over the hitherto out-of-form Gilchrist decided to take charge. He lashed Manjural off the back foot to long-off; two balls later a similar ferocious drive went straight to the fielder. Lack of form has not dissuaded the Australian keeper from playing his shots, at least, as he continued to attack but tended to find the fielder. But when he hits clear of the field, the ball stays hit. He champed at the bit during another tight over from Hasibul, but finally broke free to pull him powerfully through midwicket for four.

From then on it was one way for the Australian keeper. He lashed the pace bowlers, Manjurul in particular, mercilessly, and Aminul quickly brought on his spinners. But they couldn't stop Gilchrist from racing to his fifty off only 34 balls. After an over of relative calm as Waugh faced, Gilchrist took over again and the Bangladeshi fielders could only stand and watch as another four flashed to the extra cover boundary. Then came two lofted straight drives for four - and, attempting another massive hit, he missed and was smartly stumped. He had scored a brilliant 63 out of a total of 98 for one, off 39 balls with 13 fours.

Without a further run on the board, Waugh skipped down the pitch to the left-arm spinner Enamul, drove without due care and attention, and suffered the same fate as his opening partner, having scored 33. The Bangladeshi spinners had done the trick, expensive though it proved at first. Tom Moody replaced him, one of the game's most powerful hitters, and thrashed his second ball through the covers to the boundary.

Moody and Julian went quickly on to the attack. Then, with Enamul still bowling, Julian stretched down the pitch, swung, and Khaled Masud effected a third stumping.

Then came the Tom Moody show. He almost had a shock as he lofted Hasibul easily wide of mid-on and almost presented the fielder with a catch as he ran round, just unable to save a one-bounce four. Soon after he lofted Enamul for a huge six to the sightscreen, which was followed by two massive fresh-air swings and a slice that just evaded backward point. Next over another lofted pull was superbly fielded on the midwicket boundary, one bounce, saving the four.

Ponting was playing it relatively safely, while Moody looked to play an innings in the Gilchrist mould. A crisp blow to the midwicket boundary brought up the 150 in the 19th over, then Ponting took a turn to hit a powerful six to the sightscreen, followed by an uncontested drive to the extra-cover boundary. Then Khaled Mahmud took a turn as cannon fodder, as Moody cracked him through extra cover, pulled him almost for six over midwicket, and then hammered a return chance that he could scarcely see, let alone hold. Finally a huge six over midwicket brought Australia a seven-wicket victory in double-quick time. It was later confirmed that his fifty off only 28 balls was a new World Cup record, beating Kapil Dev's in 30 balls against Zimbabwe in 1983 at Tunbridge Wells.

Australia were hardly expected to lose this match, but it was spiced by the compulsion of the Australians to increase their overall scoring rate to win through to the Super Six. That still depends on the results of the final round of matches, but if it does come down to run rates the Australians are in a good position, given a further improvement in a victory over the West Indies, should that occur.

After the match, Steve Waugh declared that he was pleased with his team's bowling, although he felt that McGrath was not at his best and Julian had bowled well without luck. He paid tribute to the Riverside pitch as the best his team had encountered so far on their tour. He felt in a way that the challenge of the early West Indian victory over Scotland was good for his team, as it had helped them to focus, and they achieved their aim of victory inside 20 overs.