Michael Clarke's Australian team appeared to be not too troubled by the loss to New Zealand in their previous game, and he said they had taken it sportingly enough to shake it off and look ahead. Australia are back in the familiar surroundings of the WACA ground in Perth, where they won the tri-series preceding the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, to take on Afghanistan.

At the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Clarke denied that the defeat to New Zealand was a "wake-up call". "I think we got beaten by a very good team. It's always tough to beat New Zealand in their own backyard. It's always tough to compete against New Zealand no matter where they play, and they're playing really good cricket at the moment. We got beaten by a better team on the day. That's the game," he said.

In Afghanistan, Australia play a team they haven't squared off against often, and Clarke said his players would assess the strengths and weakness of their players in the evening, but conceded he was impressed by what he has seen from his opponents. He was seen having a