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Plenty of questions will come under consideration when Michael Clarke or Misbah-ul-Haq win the toss on Friday.
What does the pitch look like?
What is the weather forecast?
What would suit your team best?
What would the opposition prefer?
Many other issues will be running through Clarke’s head when Australia confront Pakistan in their first knockout fixture of the World Cup.
The dark art of reverse-swing is likely to be among them.
Pakistan’s pacemen are in impressive form and made the ball ‘go Irish’ against Ireland at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
In doing so, they restricted the opposition to 49 runs in their final 10 overs and laid the platform for a seven-wicket win.
Generating more reverse at the same venue will help Pakistan’s chances of an upset, particularly given the way Australia collapsed against the swing of Trent Boult and Tim Southee in Auckland.
“Sometimes you get reserve swing, especially when you are bowling first,” Misbah said.
“It’s really difficult in the evening, especially with a little bit of dew.”
Mitchell Johnson largely agreed, adding that the use of two new balls had made it much harder to achieve reverse-swing.
“I hope it reverses, you occasionally see the ball reverse-swing in some games,” Johnson said.
“If it’s abrasive you might see it reverse late.
“Which would be very nice, but at the same time they’ve got some pretty good reverse-swing bowlers.”
Mohammad Irfan has been ruled out of the tournament, but Pakistan look potent even without the bounce generated by the 2.16-metre Irfan.
Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq labelled their attack “the best in this ICC Cricket World Cup” in a post on the tournament website.
“Pakistan’s confidence returned with victories against Zimbabwe and South Africa,” Inzamam wrote, praising the accuracy of Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan.
“In both these matches, Misbah-ul-Haq’s pace bowlers successfully defended less than 250 runs.”
Misbah backed his quicks to trouble the hosts, even if the ball didn’t swing.
“If you’re bowling in the right area you could really create pressure. That’s what these pacers have been doing,” he said.
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