A Pat Cummins hat-trick and a quick-fire 53 not out from David Warner saw Australia beat Bangladesh by 28 runs in a weather-d.isrupted T20 World Cup Super Eight clash in Antigua on Thursday.
Australia, who are bidding to complete a historic treble of World Test Championship, ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup titles, were awarded the victory under the Duckworth-Lewis formula after motoring to 100-2 off 11.2 overs when rain stopped play.
Earlier, Australia had held Bangladesh to 140-8 off their 20 overs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound.
The weather is set to play a part in the remaining Super Eight matches, with rain forecast from Saturday in Bridgetown (Barbados), North Sound (Antigua), Gros Islet (St Lucia) and Kingstown (St Vincent).
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh saluted his bowlers for laying the foundations for the win.
"Really exciting bowling performance, the boys played well tonight," Marsh said. "It is a very good playing XI. We've got 15 guys that can take us deep in the World Cup, but there's a long way to go."
Fast bowler Cummins was elated to bag his first international hat-trick.
"Pretty awesome to tick that off," said player-of-the-match Cummins. "The boys are welcoming me into the club – it's a good club to be part of."
Despite several interruptions by bad weather, Warner led a brisk march towards victory.
A final rain delay took play past midnight with Warner not out on 53 and Glenn Maxwell unbeaten on 14, Australia 100-2 and needing 41 off 52 balls to win.
With no further play possible, the result was awarded to Australia.
Bangladesh, put into bat after losing the toss, struggled to get into any kind of rhythm and their innings slowed to a crawl late on after Cummins took the wickets of Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan and Towhid Hridoy in consecutive deliveries over two overs.
Cummins, restored to the starting line-up, finished with figures of 3-29 while spinner Adam Zampa also impressed with 2-24.
Mitchell Starc wrote his name in the record books in the opening over when he trapped Tanzid Hasan for what was his 95th World Cup wicket, pulling him clear of Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga.
Josh Hazlewood opened his spell with a maiden, while another tidy over from Starc left Bangladesh with just eight runs off the first three overs.
Najmul Hossain Shanto signalled a more aggressive approach with a six off Hazlewood to start the fourth over, before Liton Das lashed a pair of boundaries off Starc in the fifth as Bangladesh's run rate ticked up to 5.40 runs per over at 27-1.
But the introduction of Zampa slowed the Bangladesh batting and the spinner soon had Liton bowled out after tempting him to sweep in the ninth over to leave Bangladesh at 58-2.
Rishad Hossain fell to Maxwell in the 10th over, caught by Zampa at short third man, for two as Bangladesh reached the halfway stage of the innings on 67-3.
Shanto's dismissal by Zampa for 41 in the 13th over slammed the brakes on Bangladesh, leaving them on 84-4 before Cummins ripped through the lower order to leave Australia a target of 141 to win.
