Australia captain Aaron Finch hopes the holders don’t become the latest World Cup team to be derailed by bad weather.
Heavy rain has forced two no-results in the World Cup so far and Finch has been anxiously eyeing the forecast to see if Australia could be the next victims when they face Pakistan at Taunton today.
Pakistan’s match against Sri Lanka was washed out on Friday before the clash between South Africa and the West Indies was abandoned after less than eight overs play on Monday.
There is rain predicted in the Taunton area today and Finch conceded luck with the weather could play a role in who makes the semi-finals from the 10-team group stage.
“I think it (weather) might play a huge part in the next few days,” Finch told reporters yesterday. 
“Next week it starts fine and looks good across the country for the remainder of the tournament. 
“So it’s important that you get early wins on the board because you don’t want to be on the wrong end of a couple of washouts that might leave you just outside that top four.”
Australia failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy in England following their rained-off matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh before they lost to England on D/L method.
If the match does get underway, Finch expects unpredictable Pakistan to provide a stern test.
They lost to the West Indies by seven wickets in their opening match, but shocked tournament favourites England with a fine performance.
“I think Pakistan are obviously a very dangerous side,” Finch said of Pakistan, who have only won one of their last 14 matches against Australia.
“We’ve seen consistently throughout, especially ICC tournaments, that they win a lot of games and they get themselves in a position to win the tournament. 
“They had a great Champions Trophy. So regardless of what kind of form Pakistan go in with, they’re always incredibly dangerous.”
Pakistan survived a defeat against India in their opening game of the 2017 Champions Trophy before crushing their arch rivals in the final, leaving Finch a firm admirer of several of their players.
“They’ve got some world-class players. Obviously Babar (Azam) is in great touch batting at No. 3 and holding their batting together,” Finn said.
“(Mohamed) Amir coming back and he looks to be back to his best. He’s swinging the ball again. Wahab (Riaz) has been fast and aggressive. Shadab (Khan) is a great bowler. 
“Hasan (Ali) had a great Champions Trophy as well,” said Finch of the pace bowler who was the player of the Champions Trophy with 13 wickets in 2017.
“When you look down their side there’s no player that you can disregard. They’ve got a lot of experience on their side. They’ve got a lot of match winners.”

Stoinis Ruled out of the next match
Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of their next World Cup match against Pakistan with a side strain, Finch said yesterday.
Stoinis, who has played in all three games for Australia in the tournament, picked up the injury in the match against India at The Oval on Sunday.
All-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been flown over to England as back-up, but the Australians will wait to make a call on whether he permanently replaces Stoinis in their 15-man squad.
“Marcus Stoinis has a bit of a side strain. He won’t be available for tomorrow,” Finch said.
“We’ve got Mitch Marsh flying over just as a bit of a precaution. He was meant to fly over with the Australia A side on Friday.
“He’s just coming a couple days early as a bit of precaution, if Stoinis doesn’t recover quick enough or doesn’t respond to treatment well enough over the next few days.”
Stoinis bowled seven overs for 62 runs against India, picking up the wickets of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. But he was dismissed for a duck and Australia fell 36 runs short of India’s total of 352 to lose the match.