Australia vs Pakistan: Cricket World Cup live scores, blog

Australia and will be hoping the forecasted rain holds off as they head to the Taunton County Ground in Somerset for fourth match of the Cricket World Cup. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEST).

Australia had their first loss of the campaign last time out against India at The Oval, and it was quite a strange performance from the Aussies after they got things going with wins over Afghanistan and the West Indies.

While the bowling attack struggled to contain India’s all-powerful batting order on a road, they then constructed the chase strangely from start to finish, leaving far too much to do towards the end, finishing 36 runs short.

The men from the land down under will need to better in all facets of the game moving forward, and the dangerous Pakistan pose a serious threat, particularly should rain intervene and shorten the game, although the forecast has improved in the last 24 hours.

Australia have been forced into a change for this game, with Marcus Stoinis out due to a side strain. Mitchell Marsh has been flown to England, but won’t be in a position to play this match.

Instead, it’s likely Shaun Marsh would be selected, however, it’s also possible either Jason Behrendorff or Nathan Lyon are selected, shuffling the batting order around.

Adam Zampa could also be dropped for Lyon, given his struggles with the ball.

Pakistan’s biggest problem is consistency, but when they get it right, there are few teams would stop them.

Mohammad Amir leads the way with the ball, their spinners are strong and the likes of Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq are always going to keep the runs ticking over.

If they are at their best, they will take a liking to Australia’s attack, so long as they can see of the consistent Pat Cummins and ultra-fast Mitchell Starc, with the other overs to be bowled set to be pulled apart, just like India did.

That shapes as the key to the match, as well as the impact of Glenn Maxwell and David Warner with the bat, given they are the only two who can be relied upon to score at a high rate for Australia.

Prediction
This match is going to be a really interesting one. On one foot, you never really know which Pakistan are going to show up, and on the other, the shorter the match gets thanks to the rain, the better chance Pakistan would appear to have. Despite all that, Australia should turn it around.

Australia to win.

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Game information

First ball: 7:30pm (AEST)
Venue: Taunton County Ground, Somerset, England
TV: Live, Fox Cricket 501 and Channel 9
Online: Live, Kayo Sports, Foxtel App, Foxtel now, 9Now
Betting: Australia $1.41, Pakistan $2.82
Overall record: Played 103, Australia 67, Pakistan 32, No result 3, Tied 1
Umpires: Nigel Llong, Ruchira Palliyaguruge

Australia (Squad)
Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Pakistan (squad)
Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Hasnain