Bangladesh face Australia juggernaut

Brisbane: Australia’s plan to bring back skipper Michael Clarke in their second World Cup match against Bangladesh in Brisbane on Saturday could be blown off course by the tropical cyclone threatening the Queensland coast.Clarke missed Australia’s 111-run thrashing of old rivals England in Melbourne last weekend as he continued his recovery from a latest bout of hamstring trouble.

 

Tournament co-hosts Australia’s emphatic victory in the Pool A opener underlined their status as one of the favourites to win the World Cup and the plan had always been to bring Clarke back for the Bangladesh match.But with forecasters predicting the power of Tropical Cyclone Marcia could lead to a 70 percent chance of rain, and even the possibility of thunderstorms, the teams may be kept in the pavilion.

 

Teams are not obliged to confirm their XI until the toss and the uncertainty over the weather has led four-time world champions Australia, who’ve been forced to train indoors, to ponder the make-up of their team. A minimum of 20 overs per side are needed to constitute a match and Australia, with Bangladesh thought to be particularly vulnerable against high class fast bowling, may recall Pat Cummins to form a four-man pace attack with Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood on what is usually a lively Gabba pitch.

However, Haddin confirmed Clarke would, weather permitting, feature this weekend.

 

George Bailey has long been tipped to make way for Clarke but the stand-in skipper did his best to cloud the issue with a fifty against England and some pundits have suggested the axe should fall on Shane Watson instead after the all-rounder made a duck at the MCG. Australia, provided the rain holds off, will be overwhelming favou-rites to make it 19 wins from 20 ODIs against Bangladesh.

 

But Clarke and Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza both played when the Tigers turned the tables on the Aussies with a stunning five-wicket win in Cardiff nine years ago  one of the greatest cricket upsets. Bangladesh launched their Cup campaign with a 105-run win over newcomers Afghanistan in Canberra on Wednesday.