Rivals shrug off World Cup fears

Four years ago in the Caribbean, Australia marched relentlessly to a historic third straight victory, while others played catch-up.

The former Australian captain Ian Chappell said India, Sri Lanka, the Ashes-winning England, South Africa and Australia are strong competitors at this time.

"Unlike 2007, where it was just a question of: Who will meet Australia in the final, this time defending champions are not the favorites," Chappell wrote in a recent column.

With the unpredictable, but very talented, Pakistanis also mix, and two-time champion West Indies and New Zealand in the title race is open.

"This could be anyone's tournament," Kapil Dev, captain of the world champion of 1983 in India, told AFP.

"The conditions will be favorable to teams from the subcontinent, but may not remove other pages. They have all played enough in this part of the world to know what to expect."

Australia has dominated the World Cup dramatically, winning in 1999, 2003 and 2007 to add to their first win under Allan Border in 1987.

They poured much of their capacity after retirement match-winners Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds.

But they proved they are still a force in limited overs cricket at impact, a recent home series against England day after losing the ashes.

Their preparation has suffered a double blow to the reliable method for the drummer Mike Hussey and out of roulette Nathan Hauritz was excluded from the tournament through injury.

Australia also had an awakening when they lost their opening warm-up match against India, undone by spin on a turning track. In contrast, began in Sri Lanka and South Africa with great victories in practice games.

Injuries to key players have also hit other sides, with England striker Eoin Morgan drummer, India paceman Praveen Kumar and Pakistan Sohail Tanveer all sailors out of the tournament.

England captain Andrew Strauss was optimistic before the event.

"We really believe we can do very well. We are very excited about it. We are here to win, obviously, no doubt. I think we feel like we have an excellent opportunity," he said.