Australia are in a confident mood ahead of their World Twenty20 campaign with a Group B match against minnows Ireland on Wednesday.
Skipper George Bailey has no doubt Australia’s “A” game will be enough to overpower the Irish.
Australia were runners-up in 2010 in the West Indies but have shown patchy form and have a world ranking of No.9, only one place above the semi-professional Irish.
Defending champions England scored 6-172 in a warm-up game on Monday to notch a nine-run win against Australia who conceded 14 wides and generally showed a lack of intensity that needs to be corrected in a hurry, Bailey says.
“Australia are our biggest threat,” Bailey said.
“If we rock up ready to play and play as well as we can (against Ireland), then I don’t think there’s a threat.”
Australia coach Mickey Arthur has hinted there will only be one change to the side that lost to England, with 19-year-old seamer Pat Cummins returning for fellow paceman Clint McKay.
Australia’s frontline bowling attack is likely to be led by Cummins and Mitchell Starc, plus allrounder Shane Watson and left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg.
Allrounders Glenn Maxwell, an offspinner, and Daniel Christian, a medium-pacer, are expected to contribute four overs between them as they did in the England match.
The pairing of Christian and Maxwell has left no room for experienced middle-order batsman David Hussey, who also bowls handy offspin.
“We’ve got four very good seamers here and there are only two positions with the way we’re setting the team up,” Arthur said in reference to back-up quicks McKay and Ben Hilfenhaus.
Bailey says his side have had an excellent preparation including a three-game T20 series in Dubai against Pakistan in September plus warm-up games against New Zealand and England in Colombo.
“I’m pretty confident. The last couple of weeks I think have been great for this team to spend some time together,” he said.
“It feels like the team really grows a leg.”
Bailey, who made his debut as player and captain in 2012, says he’s relying on vice-captain Watson and ex-skipper Cameron White to give him tactical advice during the helter-skelter of T20 matches.
“The game happens so quickly and there’s so much going on that quite often there will be things that I’ll miss,” he said.