It is a bizarre tactic considering the Australian team has struggled in the tournament leading up into the World Cup as well as the warm-up matches. By now the best eleven should have been decided and given the closeness of the competition, it was expected Australia will field their best XI.

Australia face elimination to the plate knockouts if the fail to beat Bangladesh on Wednesday. But according to Hick all is not lost: "As I told the guys after the match, the only bonus is that we know what we have to do now."

Brief scores
Afghanistan 253 in 49.2 overs (Mohd Mujtaba 75, Ihsanullah 63, H Shaidi 57; Cameron Valente 3-59, James Bazley 3-69) beat Australia 217 in 48 overs (James Bazley 54 n o; Abdullah Adil 4-45)