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REUTERS

Australia captain Michael Clarke was left kicking his heels ahead of a scheduled return to the team after steady rain delayed the start of the World Cup pool match against Bangladesh at the Gabba on Saturday.

Cylone Marcia brought torrential rain to the Brisbane area, where locals have been advised to stock up on supplies, and the downpour postponed the toss with fans still hopeful that an at-worst 20-overs-a-side contest could still take place.

If the match is abandoned, both teams will be awarded a point each, something Bangladesh, who thumped Afghanistan in their tournament opener but are huge underdogs against the hosts, are unlikely to mind.

However, nobody would be wanting the match to go ahead more than Clarke, who missed Australia's 111-run drubbing of England last weekend and has only played a warm-up against the United Arab Emirates since sustaining a hamstring injury last December.

The Bangladesh fixture was the deadline issued by selectors for the batsman to prove his fitness and Clarke told the pre-match news conference he was raring to go.

"I'll put a lot of faith in my preparation and the work that I've done over the last eight-and-a-half weeks and I'm really confident that I'm a hundred percent fit to walk out on that field and help the team have success," he said.

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