Nielsen puts faith in attack

Mitchell Johnson picked up three Bangladesh wickets in Darwin © Getty Images

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Australia coach Tim Nielsen praised his bowling attack after they inspired the hosts to an eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second match of the series.

The TIO Stadium triumph sees Australia take an unassailable 2-0 series lead ahead of Saturday’s final encounter between the two sides.

Nathan Bracken (2-16) and Mitchell Johnson (3-17) did the early damage, before Cameron White (2-39) and Stuart Clark (2-15) cleaned up the tail with ease.

Nielsen is pleased with how the versatile new-look line-up is shaping up and, with Brett Lee still to come back into the side, admits he is not be short of attacking options.

"I think we are getting closer to the group of players we would like to have together," he said. "We've got lots of options at the moment and we've probably got two or three people that can open the bowling depending on conditions.

"When you add Brett in, we've got some really good guys who bowl well with the new ball. And the fact that we've got (James) Hopes and the likes of White and (David) Hussey who can come on and bowl good quality spin is a real bonus for us.

"My job is to make them all be as well prepared as they can be, so when they are called on they are ready to go. So we're trying to give them as much bowling as we can in games and in the nets in these early parts of the season so throughout the year Ricky (Ponting) or Michael (Clarke) can call on the guys whenever they need to."

Nielsen concedes White is a work in progress, but reckons as long as he keeps getting the ball he will continue to improve and become an important player in the future.

Cameron White is an exciting prospect for Australia's one-day side © Getty Images

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"To get seven or eight overs at the end of the day was a really positive thing for him and I think he is going as well as he has in international cricket at the moment," Nielsen said.

"He'll probably have some good days and he'll more than likely have a few bad days as well, but at the moment he is progressing nicely and it's a really pleasing addition to our group."

Stand-in skipper Clarke struggled with the bat again on Wednesday, only managing to score one, but the same cannot be said for Shaun Marsh who is revelling in the role of opener.

The left-hander followed on from his 76 in the first match with a superb unbeaten 69 and Nielsen is expecting big things from him.

"The thing that he offers us is a greater ability to hit the ball hard, hit sixes, hit boundaries, but also he's such a quality player that if the good bowling attacks are coming hard at him and bowling well, he's got the technique to be able to cope with that and maybe go on and get a big score," said Nielsen.

The final match between the two sides is on Saturday, and Nielsen expects all his players to be fit and ready to round off the series with another victory.

"I'd expect if all guys are fit, they'll be champing at the bit," he said.

"We don't play one-day cricket again for Australia now until January with no ICC Champions Trophy, so it'll be hard to stop guys playing on Saturday when they think they've got two or three months off before the next one-day game for Australia."