Dhaka // Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, conceded that lack of experience will be no excuse if his team fail to win a fourth World Cup title in succession.
All 13 other World Cup captains joined the 36-year-old batsman for a joint news conference here before the official opening ceremony in the Bangladeshi capital.
But it was the Australian who hogged most of the limelight as he attempted to explain his side's two hefty defeats in their only warm-up matches in India, crashing to a 38-run defeat by India and then falling to South Africa by seven wickets on Tuesday.
His problem is to replace the giant talents of Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath, who helped propel the Australian to their hat-trick of titles in 1999, 2003 and 2007, but Ponting will not use their retirements as an excuse if he fails.
"If you look at our squad now as compared to the ones that went into the previous two World Cups, it is not that dissimilar if you read the team on paper," Ponting said.
"It may not have the McGraths and the Warnes and the Gilchrists of the previous sides, but the guys who will feature in the World Cup have 50-70 ODIs [one-day internationals] under their belts.
"It isn't as inexperienced as it looks so they're looking to create their own niche and build their own reputations as this tournament progresses."
No matter how Ponting tries to talk up Australia's chances, the fact remains two players who are expected play key roles on the slow subcontinent pitches are extremely inexperienced.
Jason Krejza, the off-spinner, has played only one ODI and he will be backed up by the 21-year-old leg-spinner Steven Smith - and both struggled to make an impact in the warm-ups.
Australia certainly have some early remedial work to do despite arriving in the subcontinent on a high, having dispatched the Ashes-winning England team 6-1 in a home one-day series.
"We obviously didn't get off to a great start. The conditions in both practice games were quite difficult," Ponting said.
"But we are in a happy position where our progress is concerned going into our first game against Zimbabwe (on Monday).
"Although the results didn't go in our favour, we've got quite a bit out of it and have a feel of the place out here."
If Ponting has his problems adapting from the bouncy pitches back home to the placid subcontinental tracks then Andrew Strauss, his England counterpart, knows exactly how he feels.
His team, already feeling somewhat bruised by their one-day hammering in Australia, only narrowly avoided embarrassment in their 16-run victory over Canada in their warm-up match at Fatullah on Wednesday.
"I agree with Ricky on this one. The key is to adjust very quickly to the conditions here which are starkly different from those that we encountered in Australia," said Strauss.
