Ricky Ponting has said that Australia will have no problems remaining at their peak throughout the World Cup, which will last for one-and-a-half months. Ponting said that he was confident that his side could continue their unchecked run. Under Ponting Australia have won 15 and lost three matches (with one tie and one no-result) since they failed to make the finals of last summer's VB series, which led to the sacking of Steve Waugh as captain. He said that his 15-man squad would live up to its No.1 tag and follow on from the 1999 World Cup triumph in England.

"It's a hard thing to do in one-day cricket to keep performing at a very high level all the time," Ponting said, "but it can be different in a World Cup because you've got quite a few days break in between games to get yourself ready for the next game so there'll be no excuses as far as we're concerned."

Ponting said Australia had been stung by their seven-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of the ICC Champion's Trophy in September. "We probably weren't quite ready for the conditions we faced that day," he said. "But we'll be better prepared this time and it's a big tournament and I'm sure we can get up for every game while we're there."

Ponting said that the squad was well-balanced and additions Andrew Symonds, Jimmy Maher and Brad Hogg were all experienced cricketers, whose strong characters also strengthened the party.

Ponting also said that Shane Warne was on track to recover from a dislocated shoulder in time to make the trip. "He's been training hard," said Ponting, "and he's been having a lot of physio and recuperative work on his shoulder and everything seems pretty positive there."

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