DHAKA: Mighty Australia will face debutant Afghanistan in the teams’ ICC Cricket World Cup Pool A match in Perth Wednesday.

The match is scheduled to begin at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground at 12:30pm Bangladesh time.

Afghanistan is likely to face their toughest test of the World Cup so far when they play four-time champions Australia.

Afghanistan have been the 'Cinderella' story of this World Cup, with their maiden win -- a thrilling one-wicket victory over Scotland in Dunedin last time out -- one of the highlights of the competition so far.

Afghanistan still have a chance of gate-crashing the quarter-finals, standing just a point behind Australia after losing to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka before beating the Scots.

Yet were Afghanistan to win on 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.

Co-host Australia need points on the board after their 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.

Pic: Point Table

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, coud lose his place if James Faulkner regains full fitness.

Afghanistan could stick to the same side that scraped past Scotland in Dunedin. Mirwais Ashraf's injury has robbed them of 10 overs of accurate medium-pace but Mohammad Nabi said Gulbadin Naib had come in and done a good job in their previous game.

Pitch and conditions

UAE lasted 31.3 overs against India three days ago on this ground. And the curator had expected a bit more out of that pitch. This one does not appear as dry as the earlier one. It had plenty of grass a couple of days before the match, but that has progressively been shaved off. There should be some pace and bounce in it. Maximum temperature is forecast to be in the early 30s. 

Aussies captain Michael Clarke on Afghanistan said "I think they've performed really well. I think a few of their individuals in particular have really stood up and performed well. There might be a bit of pace out there as well for their opening bowlers who have done a very good job throughout this tournament."

"As everyone knows the UAE has been our home ground due to security reasons and the pitches in UAE are slow and favour spin," said Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi.

"Whereas tracks in Australia and New Zealand are very different, there is much more pace and bounce."

Teams

Australia
1 Aaron Finch, 2 David Warner, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Steven Smith, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Mitchell Marsh, 8 Brad Haddin (wk), 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Afghanistan
1 Javed Ahmadi, 2 Nawroz Mangal, 3 Asghar Stanikzai, 4 Samiullah Shenwari, 5 Mohammad Nabi (capt), 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Afsar Zazai (wk), 8 Gulbadin Naib, 9 Dawlat Zadran, 10 Hamid Hassan, 11 Shapoor Zadran 

Sources: ESPNcricinfo, NDTV

BDST: 1050 HRS, MAR 04, 2015