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Ahmedabad, Feb 20 (AFP): Australia launch their World Cup bid against Zimbabwe without their usual favourites tag but banking on fearsome pace duo Brett Lee and Shaun Tait to fire them to a fourth successive title.
Australia have lost just one of of their 27 one-day internationals against their opponents with their lone defeat at the 1983 World Cup.
Australia, victorious in 1999, 2003 and 2007, have not lost a single game in the past two World Cups in South Africa and the West Indies under skipper Ricky Ponting.
Although they have lost some of their power in recent years following the retirements of Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath, they are still the top-ranked side in the one-day game.
And they come into the tournament buoyed by a 6-1 hammering of England, which went some way towards easing the pain of a thumping Ashes defeat.
Paceman Lee, who played a major role in Australia's one-day series win over England, taking 11 wickets, said he and Tait could still wreak havoc despite the spin-friendly wickets in the sub-continent.
"I don't see any problem with the pace which we have and playing on the slow wickets. At the end of the day, the ball is still coming at 150 kmh (93 miles an hour) through the air," said Lee, who has impressed in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.
"The pitch is a massive part of the equation. But if you have a bowler like Tait bowling around 160 kmh at the batsmen's toes, it doesn't matter where you are playing. It is still going to hit the batsmen on the full."
Australia, who struggled against spin in their practice matches, are likely to face another spin test as Zimbabwe have good slow bowlers in Raymond Price, Prosper Utseya and Graeme Cremer.
They will be relying on Shane Watson and Brad Haddin to lay the foundations for big totals.
All-rounder Watson is the man in form and is known for his hard and clean hitting, having scored 306 in six one-dayers against England with a hundred and two half-centuries, while Haddin has provided valuable support.
The onus will be on Ponting and Michael Clarke to provide solidity in the middle order in the absence of the injured Michael Hussey.
The pair's form ahead of the tournament augurs well for Australia, with Ponting scoring two successive half-centuries in warm-up games against India and South Africa and Clarke one.
Zimbabwe, who lost a one-day series in Bangladesh recently, will be keen to put in a solid batting performance. They hope recent batting tips from West Indies great Brian Lara will stand them in good stead.
"He (Lara) shared his experience with us and it helped us a lot. Hopefully, we will be able to put it into practice," Zimbabwean captain Elton Chigumbura said.
Zimbabwe batting coach Grant Flower said troubled Zimbabwe were heading in the right direction.
"We've had our troubles with some of us leaving the country. We left under not the greatest circumstances but hopefully that is all in the past," he was quoted as saying on cricinfo.
"Both parties probably made some mistakes but that's life, nothing's perfect. Things are moving in the right direction."
"We've got some good people there, and the players are playing some decent cricket. Quite a few of the guys have played quite a few one-day internationals now, so there's quite a bit of experience. We're expecting some good things at the World Cup," he added.
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