Australia makes most of less-than-ideal day

On an ideal day, everything would have fallen in Australia's favour from the moment Scotland captain Preston Mommsen called 'heads' and the coin landed tails-first on the flinty surface of the Blundstone Arena pitch.

But as Australia captain Michael Clarke was well aware even before that coin was flipped skyward and was silhouetted against a slate grey sky with heavy clouds buffeted by a stiff sou-westerly, this was not an ideal day.

Not for cricket anyway.

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Michael Clarke and Preston Mommsen at the toss of the coin // Getty Images

And not when the stumble your team experienced against a trans-Tasman opponent who historically provides a tussle rather than an upset meant your sole, unyielding priority heading into a game against battling Scotland was to win it.

Not with experimentation, not by allowing under-utilised members of the squad some almost-competitive centre-wicket practice.

Just to win.

And the threat posed by those foreboding clouds as they skudded down the Derwent towards the entirely appropriately named Storm Bay near the River's mouth ensured that victory had to be achieved as quickly, as clinically and as ruthlessly as the laws of the game would allow.

"There was obviously doubt about getting a result, there was rain forecast and it didn't look great," Clarke said amid the post-match relief of a seven-wicket win achieved with barely a sweat but not bereft of the occasional tension headache

"But there was always a fair bit of wind so we had confidence that would continue to blow the rain away, but it could also blow more in.

"The fact that we knew we had already qualified for a quarter-final was a positive, it's just that we wanted to win this game to finish second rather than third or fourth.

"That was our main focus on making sure we did everything we could to try and win this game."

Had the day dawned ideal, as was the case with the pristine autumn afternoons that preceded this wintry Saturday, then Clarke would have seized on the chance to bat and bat and bat on a Hobart pitch that has offered up runs as freely as Tasmanian seafood in the city's restaurant precinct.

On the final sunny afternoon before today's game, Clarke indicated that three of his team – himself, reinstated allrounder Shane Watson and James Faulkner who missed the initial weeks of the tournament through injury – needed some match-tempo batting practice.

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Pat Cummins (left) and Mitch Starc took seven wickets between them // Getty Images

The knockout phase of a major tournament is no place to go looking for touch, so the final group game against an understrength, winless opponent was a timely gift.

But the weather and the must-win impetus conspired to ruin that scenario, and when Clarke invited the Scots to bat he did so in the hope his bowlers would skittle them with an undignified haste and that the three batters in questions would then get some time as they chased down the nominal target.

The bowlers duly obliged, even Pat Cummins – himself returning from a two-week injury lay-off and also in need of overs in the middle – was granted licence to bowl more than any of the others and picked up three wickets in the process.

With the target of 131 presenting far less of a threat than the glowering clouds, Clarke then elevated himself to number one in the order, Watson to three and Faulkner to four although the practice they gained was more in the vein of frantic hitting than innings building.

It represented the only frustration in what was by most key performance indicators a highly satisfactory outcome.

"Ideally I would have liked all three of us to get a hundred each," Clarke said of the batsmen who most needed a gallop, a scenario as unlikely as Scotland setting the 300-plus target that would have created that opportunity.

"I think we did whatever we could and made the most of whatever opportunity we had.

"I still felt a bit rusty out there with the bat, I don't think Watto (Watson) would have played that shot (a lap sweep that lobbed to the 'keeper) if he wasn't putting the team first and Jimmy Faulkner had to come in and try and smack it at the end.

"It would have been ideal for us to spend as much time as possible in the middle, but all three of us got a bat and that's better than how it could have been."

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Michael Clarke opened the batting and top-scored for Australia // Getty Images

The path ahead for Clarke's team will become clear by tomorrow evening.

The winner of the Pakistan-Ireland match being fought out in Adelaide, where the Australian players will convene tomorrow afternoon to prepare for next Friday's quarter-final, will be their opponent in their first knockout match.

From there, the assignment is straightforward: Win three games and lift the World Cup.

"Who we play against we're still unsure, we know we're playing in Adelaide and we finished second in our draw," Clarke said as he ticked off the known-knowns last night.

"I would like to have not lost a game (in the group stage) but to get to the quarter-finals is the most important part.

"Getting their firstly and then having success to get through a semi-final."

From here, the host nation's destiny is in their own hands.

And those that control the elements.