Australia face Pakistan in Cricket World Cup, Windies sweat on Gayle

Australia and Pakistan clash in the World Cup quarter-finals in Adelaide on Friday while West Indies were sweating on the fitness of key opener Chris Gayle ahead of their showdown with New Zealand.
Apart from a nailbiting one-wicket loss to fellow tournament co-hosts New Zealand and a washed-out match with Bangladesh, four-times champions Australia have made serene progress in their quest to win a first World Cup title on home soil.
Pakistan, by contrast, suffered thumping defeats by defending champions India and the West Indies in their first two pool matches.
However, Misbah-ul-Haq's men have since won four successive matches -- including a victory over a South Africa side who on Wednesday stormed into the semi-finals with a nine-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka -- to reinforce their reputation as a team who can be a match for anyone at their best.
Pakistan have lost nine of their last 10 one-day internationals to Australia on Australian grounds, including all of the last seven.
But captain Michael Clarke said: "I think Pakistan have been under-rated for a long time especially in the shorter form of the game. Their attack is very good and they have got a good mix of youth and experience.
"I believe we have to be at our best to beat them. We'll treat this like a World Cup final."
For Australia, the only selection dilemma appears to be whether Josh Hazlewood will replace fellow fast bowler Pat Cummins in a pace attack spearheaded by in-form left-armer Mitchell Starc.
Pakistan suffered a setback on Tuesday when giant fast bowler Mohammad Irfan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a stress fracture of the hip, but the likes of Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali have been in fine form with the ball.
"They (Australia) are favourites but there is no hard-and-fast rule that favourites are always going to win the match," said Misbah.
"I think we've got a bowling line-up which can go through any (batting) line-up."
If they can defeat Australia, 1992 champions Pakistan will face India -- a side they've never beaten at the World Cup -- in a semi-final in Sydney on March 26 after their arch-rivals downed Bangladesh by a whopping 109 runs in Melbourne on Thursday.
- Gayle concerns -
New Zealand and the West Indies, who meet in Wellington on Saturday, know the winners of their quarter-final will play South Africa in Auckland on March 24.
But Grant Elliott, New Zealand's South Africa-born all-rounder, said the Black Caps were focused on the task at hand.
"We'll concentrate on this game and if we do get to the semi-final, then we'll have a look at their team."
New Zealand, who won all six of their pool matches, will be firm favourites to triumph this weekend against a West Indies side who lost three of their group games.
West Indies' chances of causing an upset won't be helped if star batsman Gayle -- who earlier in this tournament scored a World Cup record 215 against Zimbabwe -- is ruled out through injury.
The big-hitting left-handed opener trained for the first time this week on Friday, two days after receiving an injection in his lower back.
West Indies captain Jason Holder said Gayle would face a late fitness test.
"He's had an injection and a scan. The scan didn't show anything major, so we'll just see how he pulls up and make a decision tomorrow morning," the skipper explained.
However, Holder stressed the West Indies -- winners of the first two World Cups back in 1975 and 1979 -- could still succeed even without the 35-year-old Jamaican, pointing to the composed 55 made by Johnson Charles when he stepped in for last weekend's win over the UAE that saw the side into the last eight on net run-rate.
"Obviously, (Gayle) has been a very good player for us over the years but we've shown we've got people to fit the bill," Holder said.
"Johnson came in the last game and got a half-century and looked the part. So we've got people to fill his boots but obviously having Chris there is a plus for us."
Source: AFP