Brett Geeves (right) and Michael Hussey celebrate the fall of a wicket in Darwin on Saturday

Darwin: Australia’s bowling attack ruthlessly exposed Bangladesh’s batting when the world champions cruised to a 180-run win on Saturday in the first of three one-day Internationals.

After Bangladesh captain Mohammed Ashraful won the toss and asked Australia to bat, the visitors bowled well to restrict Australia to 254 for eight from their 50 overs. However, any hopes the Bangladeshis may have had of causing an upset were quickly dashed when the Australian bowlers crushed the visitors.

Only opener Tamim Iqbal with 21 showed any resistance as the rest of the Bangladeshis surrendered meekly to an Australian bowling line-up missing Brett Lee, Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds.

Tasmania’s Brett Geeves took two wickets on his debut, while leg-spinner Cameron White grabbed three in two overs, with the visitors losing their last five wickets for only 15 runs. Michael Hussey played a well-weighted innings, beginning cautiously in the hot and humid conditions before unleashing an array of boundaries in the closing overs.

Despite Tamim’s bright start, the deficiencies of the visiting batsmen meant a win never looked likely.