Pakistan wins toss, sends Australia in to bat

LONDON: The Latest on Day 14 at the Cricket World Cup (all times local):

10:20 am

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has won the toss and elected to bowl first against Australia in cool, overcast conditions at the County Ground in Taunton.

After back-to-back washouts on Days 12 and 13 of the Cricket World Cup, the group game on Wednesday is expected to start on time. There is the chance of rain on the forecast.

Australia made two changes to the XI that lost to India last Sunday after the injury-enforced absence of allrounder Marcus Stoinis. Shaun Marsh was called up to bat at Number 5 to strengthen the top order, and seamer Kane Richardson was picked ahead of wrist spinner Adam Zampa.

Pakistan made one change to the team that upset England, with paceman Shaheen Afridi coming in for Shadab Khan.

Five-time champion Australia enters the Taunton match on an eight-game winning streak against Pakistan, and has won 14 of the last 15 head-to-head encounters.

Pakistan was bounced out for 105 in its opening loss to West Indies but rallied for a win over top-ranked England to end a run of 11 ODI losses.

Lineups:

Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi.

Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson.

9 am

Cricket World Cup organizers are hoping to get a result in the group game between defending champion Australia and Pakistan after washouts on consecutive days at Southampton and Bristol.

Cool temperatures and light rain are on the forecast for southwest England on Wednesday but Britain’s Met Office is predicting only a slight chance of rain during the morning at the match venue in Taunton.

It was overcast and gloomy at Somerset’s County Ground before play on Day 14 of the tournament and the temperature was expected to be around 11 Celsius (52 Fahrenheit) at the scheduled toss.

Pakistan has already had a game washed out — against Sri Lanka in Bristol last Friday — and the second game at Bristol between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was abandoned because of rain without a ball being bowled on Tuesday. There were only 7.3 overs played in the South Africa-West Indies game before it was washed out in Southampton on Monday.

Five-time champion Australia swept Pakistan 5-0 in a one-day international series in March and has won 14 of the last 15 head-to-head encounters.

But the Australians are coming off a loss to India last Sunday in London and the absence of injured allrounder Marcus Stoinis will enforce a lineup change.

Pakistan is coming off a confidence-boosting win over top-ranked England, which ended a run of 11 ODI losses.

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