McGrath sets a World cup record,Oz restrict B'desh to 104 for 6

St Peter's, Antigua, Mar 31 (UNI) Glenn McGrath ripped through the top-order to set up a new milestone by becoming the highest wicket taker in the World Cup as Australia restricted rank outsiders Bangladesh to 104 for six in 22-overs in a rain-clipped Super Eight league match at Sir Vivian Richards ground here today.

Going into his 33rd World Cup match with 54 wickets under his belt, McGrath clean bowled opener Shahriar Nafees in his second and team's fourth over to equal Pakistani great Wasim Akram's record of 55 wickets.

The tall and lanky pacer struck again in his next over to become the highest wicket taker when he had Aftab Ahmed caught spectacularly at mid off by Nathan Bracken to leave Bangladesh tottering at 25 for 3 in 5.3 overs.

The first wicket that of opener Tamim Iqbal was taken by Nathen Bracken who had the batsman caught by Brad Hogg at mid off when the score was just four.

McGrath took his World Cup tally further up when he got rid of prolific Mohd Ashraful, who was snapped at mid on by Ricky Ponting.

The bowler finished with a spell of 5-0-16-3.

Put into bat in a rain-shortened match of 22 overs each innings, Bangladesh managed to set a 105-run victory target for the defending champions, thanks to trio of Sakib al Hassan (25), skipper Habibul Bashar (24) and Mashrafe Mortaza (25 not out).

The Bangladesh batsmen were all at sea against the might of the Australians but some wild and desperate hitting saw their score crossing hundred mark. At one stage they were 65 for 5 in 16.2 overs but scored 39 runs in remaining 5.4 overs to add respectability to their total.

UNI