Pakistan completed preparations for next week's two Twenty20 internationals against Australia at Edgbaston with a six-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road here Saturday. Although Zimbabwe's Elton Chigumbura made 58 not out and Alex Wakely 55, Northamptonshire's total of 133 for three rarely looked like troubling a Pakistan side for whom off-spinner Saeed Ajmal took one for 15 in four overs. In reply, Pakistan completed victory in the 16th over, thanks mainly to Shahzaib Hossain's 64 and captain Shahid Afridi's dashing 42 off 13 balls. Australia beat Pakistan by three wickets in a thrilling World Twenty20 semifinal in Saint Lucia in May when the teams last met in international cricket's shortest format. It seemed Pakistan, the defending champion, had the game all but won only for Michael Hussey's unbeaten 60 to seal victory for an Australia side who subsequently lost to England in the final. Bangladesh suffers Sussex thrashing In England, Bangladesh went down to a mammoth 149-run defeat in a warmup match against Sussex Saturday - just five days before the start of its one-day series with England. The Tigers' prospects for the three-match campaign against England, which starts at Trent Bridge Thursday, looked grim after it began the one-day leg of its tour by being bowled out for just 104 inside 29 overs. Admittedly Bangladesh was not helped by a schedule that saw it having to leave England after a 2-0 Test series loss last month for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka only to then come back to the UK again. Even so, the fact only Roqibul Hassan, with 23, got past 20 against a far from full-strength Susssex side will have done little for Bangladesh's self-belief. Former England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, playing his first senior game for a month, took three wickets for 21 runs but the damage to Bangladesh's hopes of reaching a target of 254 had been done by Sussex's seamers. Earlier, Ben Brown made 58 and Michael Thornely, captaining Sussex for the first time, 56 in a total of 253 all out. New captain Mashrafe Mortaza, skippering the team in place of the deposed Shakib Al Hasan, led the attack with two for 32. Bangladesh plays its second and final warm-up match against Middlesex at Lord's Monday.
