Full-strength Aussie side out to defy low ranking

Australia's slide from top to seventh in the Twenty20 rankings is misleading and irrelevant to the World Cup, fast bowling spearhead Mitchell Starc says.

Australia claimed the top ranking in the shortest format for the first time in May last year.

But they head into their looming World Cup campaign with just six wins from their past 21 games in T20 cricket.

The streak features five consecutive series losses - against England, India, New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh.

But Starc says the subsequent slip in rankings is explained by Australians rarely having their best squad available in that time.

"It's a huge positive that we have got our full-strength team here available to us for the World Cup," Starc told reporters.

"Obviously we didn't have that through the West Indies and Bangladesh.

"We had some really young, inexperienced players and some young guys playing their first games of cricket for Australia come into some really foreign conditions and thrown in the deep end really quickly.

"But now we have got our full-strength team available ... it's up to us now.

"We have set out to win the World Cup. We don't want anything less."

Australia's Cup campaign in the United Arab Emirates opens against South Africa on October 23 with Starc adamant a disjointed preparation is no excuse for not performing at their peak.

"We have had to navigate a few difficulties, being back home for the guys that have been in lockdown in Sydney or Melbourne or playing very little amount of cricket for their states," he said.

"Obviously we have had a few guys here in the IPL as well so it's a mixed bag of preparation for everyone. Some have been playing some cricket, some have been trying to find ways to prepare for this tour.

"I spent a fair bit of time with the Australian women's team and (wife) Alyssa (Healy) so that was a good period of mental and physical preparation for me.

"I am feeling good about it. We have all played enough cricket to know what we need to do to best prepare ourselves for these sorts of tournaments."

In six past editions of the Cup, Australia have reached the final only once – a 2010 loss to England.

"It's no secret that we haven't won a T20 World Cup so I'm looking forward to hopefully being a part of our first one," Starc said.

"In terms of our make-up, the group feels like we have covered all bases that we need to for these conditions."

2021 Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

Australia's matches

Oct 23v South Africa in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Oct 28v Qualifier A1 in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 29 AEDT)

Oct 30v England in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 31 AEDT)

Nov 4v Qualifier B2 in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

Nov 6v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2021 ICC T20 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SQUADS FOR ALL 16 TEAMS

How the teams are grouped

Round 1

Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia

Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Oman

Super 12s

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1, B2

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, B1, A2