PERTH — Afghanistan faces its toughest test of the World Cup so far when it plays four-time champion Australia here Wednesday. Afghanistan has been the ‘Cinderella' story of this World Cup, with its maiden win — a thrilling one-wicket victory over Scotland in Dunedin last time out — one of the highlights of the competition so far. But the pace and bounce of the WACA pitch is unlike any surface Afghanistan has experienced before and, in such fast bowlers as Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, Australia has the attack to exploit the conditions. It may well have been with this match in mind that International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson said Friday: “I'm pleased with the performances of the qualifiers so far, but the bigger tests are still to come.” The following day the amateurs from the UAE was skittled out for just 102 at the WACA by defending champion India, whose pace attack is nothing like as intimidating as that of Australia. “As everyone knows the UAE has been our home ground due to security reasons and the pitches in UAE is slow and favor spin,” said Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi. “Whereas tracks in Australia and New Zealand are very different, there is much more pace and bounce.” However, Afghanistan's last Pool A match against a Test nation saw them reduce Sri Lanka to 51 for four before Mahela Jayawardene's hundred restored the status quo. Furthermore, the likes of fast bowler Hamid Hassan and left-arm quick Shapoor Zadran, who starred with bat and ball against Scotland, could find the WACA to their liking. The more concerning issue is how Afghanistan's batsmen will cope, although Samiullah Shenwari was in bullish mood about the prospect of playing Australia after his superb 96 set up up the win over Scotland. “Hopefully we'll give them a tough time and we will not give up easy,” he said. “So we're looking forward to giving them a tough time and looking forward to winning the match.” Afghanistan still have a chance of gate-crashing the quarterfinals, standing just a point behind Australia after losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka before beating the Scots. Yet were Afghanistan to win Wednesday it would arguably be the greatest upset in the history of One-Day International cricket. For Australia, it is the classic ‘no-win' situation in that anything less than a huge victory, never mind a defeat, will be regarded with dismay by their supporters. Australia needs points on the board after its 111-run opening win over England was followed by a no-result washout against Bangladesh and last weekend's thrilling one-wicket defeat by New Zealand in Auckland. Australia captain Michael Clarke's lament about his side's inability to play swing bowling, after it slumped to 151 all out against a New Zealand attack featuring a five-wicket haul from left-arm paceman Trent Boult, was interpreted in some quarters as a criticism of coach Darren Lehmann's training methods. Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins is set to miss Wednesday's match with a side strain, his place likely to go to Josh Hazlewood in an attack where Starc, who took six for 28 against New Zealand, is becoming increasingly influential. Meanwhile all-rounder Shane Watson, under renewed scrutiny after giving his wicket away cheaply in Auckland, could lose his place if James Faulkner regains full fitness. Afghanistan assistant coach Peter Anderson said Wednesday's match gave the tournament newcomers a chance to showcase their talent. “We've come off a win against Scotland, so that's given the boys a lot of confidence,” said Anderson. “We know we're up against one of the best teams in the world and certainly arguably the best pace attack,” added Anderson, who played Australian first-class cricket as a wicketkeeper for Queensland and South Australia. — Agencies
