Australian selectors' plans to bring Michael Clarke back against a minnow nation were ruined, as Cyclone Marcia washed out the clash between Australia and Bangladesh at the Gabba on Saturday.
Clarke had been recovering from a recurring hamstring injury and had prove his fitness for the remainder of the World Cup by taking charge of Australia against minnows Bangladesh.
However, Australia is confident that their skipper's hamstring has been fortified to handle the extra intensity of now returning against a flying New Zealand,News.com.au reported.
Head of team performance Pat Howard admitted that the best-laid plans had been dashed by the weather, which forced Australia's clash against Bangladesh at the Gabba to be abandoned.
However, Howard said that Clarke had gone above and beyond in ensuring his injury recovery goes as smoothly as possible, even if it now would now come directly against one of the tournament favourites, New Zealand.
New Zealand are the form team of the tournament having decimated Sri Lanka, Scotland and England so far, and Australia would now go into the crunch match that would likely decide Pool A having not played a match in two weeks.
With the winner of Pool A likely to face minnows Ireland in a quarterfinal, there's plenty to play for and Australia is under the pump after splitting the points with Bangladesh.
The wash-out is far from ideal, but as far as Clarke's concerned, Cricket Australia is confident that their skipper is well prepared.
Howard said that he believes that they are lucky to a certain extent that Clarke has had some game exposure through the Bangladesh versus CA XI game there at Allan Border Field, and then the UAE warm-up game. He claimed that best laid plans dashed, that is fine, adding that in the end Clarke has done everything asked of him and worked his backside off.
Howard insisted that they can't control the weather but they look forward to next week now and deal with everything as they come.
