Wet and wild cyclonic weather in the so-called Sunshine State was threatening to wash out Australia's World Cup Pool A match against Bangladesh on Saturday, meaning the four-time champion Australians may have to share the competition points. The category-5 Cyclone Marcia crossed the coast on Friday about 600 kilometers north of Brisbane but started to lose intensity, quickly downgraded to a category-3 and was expected to reduce further as it tracked south.
All the news before the weather took priority focused on Michael Clarke and his fitness test. After missing the opening 111-run win over England, the Australia captain was set to return against Bangladesh at the Gabba. Speculation on how his return from hamstring surgery in December would change the lineup — with most critics predicting stand-in captain George Bailey would lose his spot in the middle order — dissipated in the deluge.
“The forecast is obviously not great but to be honest our main focus is on the people of Queensland,” Clarke said Friday. “As much as we would like to get out on the field and continue our form I think we need to realize how bad this cyclone is and hope that everyone is healthy and safe. We will worry about the cricket later.”
Authorities urged people to stay indoors and avoid flooded roads and more than 1,00,000 sandbags were filled and handed out to people.
The Australia-Bangladesh match is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, but with the forecast for more heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms overnight and in the morning, there appeared to be little chance of the game getting being played.
If both sides can't bat for a minimum 20 overs, the organisers will declare a ‘No Result’ and award each team one point.
Clarke declined to reveal the composition of the Australian XI.
“We have selected a team but I am not going to announce it today because it could change if the game's format changes,” he said. “That gives the selectors options.”
Clarke came through some warmup matches, where he was required to bat, bowl and field. He has struggled with back and hamstring problems throughout his career, but said he'd never needed surgery until the operation on his right hamstring in December, which forced him out of three Tests against India and the limited-overs tri-series involving England and India.
“I had niggles in the past but I haven't missed as much cricket as I have in the last couple of months,” he said, assuring critics he was back to fitness. “I am 100 percent confident I can walk out on the field and help the team achieve success.”
If the Gabba match is abandoned, Australia has another week to wait before it plays co-host New Zealand at Auckland.
Bangladesh opened the tournament with a win over newcomer Afghanistan, and can't be entirely written off against the Australians after causing one of the biggest upsets with a victory over the Aussies in 2005. That was the Bangladeshi side's only win against Australia in 19 ODIs.
“Yeah, it was a good memory for us, but it was a long time ago,” Mortaza said. “If you can on a particular day play good cricket, you can beat anybody.”
Mortaza said he'd been hoping to use the match against Australia to fine-tune for later matches against Sri lanka and New Zealand. Otherwise, he doesn't mind getting something out of the trip to Brisbane.
“If you can get one point, whatever is happening is happening for good, so we don't mind that,” he said.