Cyclone Marcia overshadows Clarke’s return

Published February 21, 2015
Brisbane: Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson bowls during an indoor training session at the Bupa National Cricket Centre on Friday.—AFP
Brisbane: Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson bowls during an indoor training session at the Bupa National Cricket Centre on Friday.—AFP

BRISBANE: Michael Clarke’s return to the Australia World Cup team looks like being put on hold with a potentially destructive cyclone set to hit the Queensland coast on Friday.

The storm, which will see winds of 285 kph (177 miles) hammering the northeast coast of the state, will bring torrential rain to the so-called Sunshine State, where Australia are scheduled to play Bangladesh on Saturday.

With people in Brisbane and surrounding areas warned to stock up on supplies and volunteers handing out sandbags in the Queensland capital, it looks highly likely that the match at the Gabba will be washed out.

Organisers said in a statement on Friday that as there was no provision for the match to be rescheduled, they were still hoping it would go ahead with a reduced number of overs if necessary.

“ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 organisers are working closely with authorities in Queensland regarding tomorrow’s match between Australia and Bangladesh given the extreme weather situation in the State and the forecasts for ongoing rain in Brisbane,” and an International Cricket Council statement issued on Friday said.

“Our thoughts are with the people affected. However as there is no reserve day for pool matches, we will continue to prepare in the hope that the match can go ahead.

“The ICC match officials will make a decision on the match tomorrow [Saturday] based on conditions at the time.

“The match can still go ahead with a delayed start if necessary. A match can be successfully completed if each side has a minimum of 20 overs, which means that it is still possible to achieve a result with a start after the scheduled innings break.”

The teams were forced to practise indoors on Friday and if the match does not get underway or is abandoned then they will be awarded a point each.

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said that would probably help their chances of reaching the quarter-finals from Pool ‘A’.

“If you can get one point, whatever is happening is happening for good, so we don’t mind that,” he said.

“But we are not looking for it. If we can play good cricket here, definitely it would help us in the future against Sri Lanka, against New Zealand.”

It would definitely be a blow to Clarke, who missed Australia’s 111-run drubbing of England last weekend and has only played a warm-up against the United Arab Emirates since sustaining a hamstring injury last December.

Australian captain Michael Clarke looks upwards as he prepares to bat in the nets.—AFP
Australian captain Michael Clarke looks upwards as he prepares to bat in the nets.—AFP

The match against Bangladesh was the deadline peremptorily handed to the batsman by selectors to prove his fitness for the campaign, and Clarke told the pre-match news conference he was raring to go.

“I’ll put a lot of faith in my preparation and the work that I’ve done over the last eight-and-a-half weeks and I’m really confident that I’m a hundred percent fit to walk out on that field and help the team have success,” he said.

“[But] as much as we’d like to get out on the field ... I think we need to realise how bad the cyclone is. I think I care most about the people of Queensland and making sure everybody is healthy and safe.”

Clarke, meanwhile, 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.”

If the Gabba match is abandoned, Australia have another week to wait before they play co-hosts New Zealand at Auckland.

New Zealand won their third match in a row with an eight-wicket victory over a shattered England on Friday in Wellington.

Bangladesh opened the tournament with a win over newcomers Afghanistan on Wednesday, and can’t be entirely written off against the Australians after causing one of the biggest upsets in cricket with a victory over the Aussies in 2005.

That was the Bangladeshi side’s only win against Australia in 19 ODIs since 1990.

“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. We just want to make sure that we play our best cricket.”

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2015

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