Ponting not worried about streak

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has dismissed suggestions that his side has become a spent force, saying the Aussies will be the team to beat, come the World Cup.

The Australian one-day side has been under the pump lately, losing both the Commonwealth Bank tri-series finals to England and the Chappell-Hadlee series 3-0 to New Zealand. Australia also surrendered their number one ODI ranking to South Africa in the process.

“There’s been a bit of negativity around the team over the last couple of weeks. But we’ll be extremely hard to beat. I’m not that fussed that we’re going in having lost our last five games,” he said.

“We’ve had up to six or seven of our top 11 players out, which probably hasn’t been reported that much over the last couple of weeks. That should be able to bring the best out in the players.

“This team generally lifts itself and plays its best cricket when there’s some big games on the line, and it doesn’t get any bigger than a World Cup.”

The Australian squad left for the Caribbean yesterday and will play their first warm-up game on March 6th, taking on Zimbabwe in Kingstown.