Victory and the axe – those will be George Bailey’s two expectations when Australia begin their World Cup campaign against England at the MCG.

The tournament co-hosts, widely tipped to lift the trophy on March 29 in Melbourne, finally start that six-week journey on Saturday.

“Our expectations are always to win regardless. If the general public, the media think that we are favourites, then that’s fine,” Bailey said.

“The Australian cricket team expects to win tournaments and this one is no different.”

Bailey is likely to be the unlucky man squeezed out when Michael Clarke returns against Bangladesh on Saturday week.

It is a fate the vice-captain has come to terms with.

“It’s a pretty basic equation there. What will be will be,” Bailey said.

Asked what he could do to save his spot, Bailey replied “I don’t think I probably will, but that’s fine. I think it’s great he (Clarke) is on track”.

“He has done a tremendous job to get back on time,” he said of Clarke, who underwent hamstring surgery almost two months ago.

England have lost 13 of their past 15 one-dayers against Bailey’s men in Australia.

In sharp contrast, Australia’s one-day winning streak is at nine matches.

Having knocked off England in the recent Tri-Series final, Bailey agreed his side’s preparation for the World Cup had been almost perfect.

“The guys are ready and the guys are switched on,” he said on the eve of a soldout clash attracting more than 90,000 fans.

“Naturally, when you get closer to a big tournament, you become a little tense and anxious.

“I feel like we have been ready for a long time.”

With Clarke and James Faulkner ruled out due to injury, selectors face a relatively easy task picking an XI out of the 15-man squad.

Bailey all but confirmed spinner Xavier Doherty would miss out.

“It’ll be more for the quicks here,” Bailey said, when asked about Doherty’s chances of playing on the weekend.

It leaves Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood locked in a pace shootout for the final berth.

Both men caused England some trouble during the Tri-Series, with Bailey suggesting it would come down to the nature of the MCG pitch.

“The Twenty20 game here earlier this season was quite quick and bouncy … but the practice game during the week was quite slow,” he said.

“I find the drop-in wickets quite difficult to read … you can get a bit of everything here.”

Regardless of who gets picked, Bailey feels his potent pace attack will be a point of difference during the event.

“I can’t wait for the actual game to start so at least I can direct it, rather than just cop it,” he said.

“It’s amazing come game time. It’s horrible at training.

“I certainly feel, with our attack, we can do a lot of damage up front and kill games off and win games early.”