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Australia’s World Cup match against Bangladesh was Michael Clarke’s fitness deadline. The date was described as harsh. Shane Warne accused selectors of trying to “break” the absent captain. But in the end, Clarke didn’t have to play.
No one did, as the Gabba match was washed out by the storms that have dumped down on Queensland for days.
We waited and watched all afternoon, as Brendon Julian did his best to act like he was interested, Twitter kept us supplied with dismal photos of Genesis-inspired floods around inner Brisbane, and the broadcasters found time to replay New Zealand’s match against England half a dozen times. It was easy enough.
Bangladesh would have been only too happy to share the points once the ICC called off the game late on Saturday afternoon. That leaves both sides on three points behind Pool A leaders New Zealand with six, while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Scotland and England are yet to move off zero. Do the job against Scotland, and Bangladesh could find themselves trumping England for a quarter-final.
For Australia though, the washout is far from a relief. Aside from losing that almost certain point, the match was supposed to be a chance to fine-tune the side and get Clarke some proper game time.
Australia’s next assignment is a trip to Auckland to tackle New Zealand on Saturday. The Black Caps have already played three times for three wins. Australia will face them having played only one match a fortnight earlier.
Including Clarke in the squad was an uncharacteristically flaky move from Australia’s selectors. Now, a captain who has made it uninjured through four ODIs in the last 18 months is supposed to resume his career and test out his body on the biggest stage against the World Cup’s form team on their home ground. New Zealand are on top of their game, swinging both the ball and the bat outrageously to devastate opponents. No pressure.
While no final XI was announced at the Gabba, it was generally known at the ground that Clarke would have played as expected in place of alternate captain George Bailey. But the Bangladesh game could also have been last chance saloon for Shane Watson given his recent batting returns.
Now the side for New Zealand must be picked without that sighter.
Mitchell Marsh is often suggested as Watson’s replacement, but is unproven in the top order and offers bowling devoid of threat. Five fortunate wickets against an imploding England don’t prove much in a bowling career that has produced little else.
Don’t get me wrong, Marsh seems a nice fellow and he can certainly give a cricket ball an thump. But there’s a level of overexcitement given his still very limited international exposure.
James Faulkner’s absence leaves Australia’s best configuration unclear. With Marsh at No. 8 they’re light on bowling and heavy on all-rounders, but fast man Patrick Cummins missed a run against Bangladesh after also missing out on the Mitch-heavy attack picked for England.
Collectively that leaves plenty of doubt over who will play, where they’ll play and what sort of touch they’ll be in, as the Australians shape up for their big challenge of the pool stage. It does matter: aside from abstract things like bragging rights and momentum, there are practical things to play for.
If Australia manage to beat New Zealand this time around, the two teams are almost certain to end up first and second in their pool, meaning they couldn’t meet again until the final at the MCG.
But if Australia lose this pool match then they’re still a chance to finish third, meaning the two sides could meet again in the semi-finals. With New Zealand finishing higher in the group, such a match would be played in Auckland: a far sterner challenge than any other side on Australian soil.
The pool game will be stern enough. Both teams feature impressive fast bowlers, versatile all-rounders and powerful hitters. Eden Park is a small ground and scores could be huge.
But we may already have seen a trump card: if New Zealand’s bowlers can move the ball through the air like they did against England, they’ll provide all sorts of trouble for an Australian batting line-up that favours the booming drive and is suspect against swing.
The contest is bound to be one of the highlights of the World Cup, but regardless of how different Bangladesh would have been in style, Australia’s management could well find themselves wishing they’d had the chance for that last hit-out.
This article was first published on Wisden India.