Australians set to rewrite the record books

If Team USA were pegged back by the thrashing they received at the hands of New Zealand, then they better brace themselves for high impact now. Ricky Ponting's Australians have spent hours at the nets without getting a game. If the weather stays good, the Australian team will be straining at the leash to get some action.

"Everybody is so keen to play because we haven't played much cricket of late. We had a rained-out tournament in Amsterdam, and then our practice match here was rained out as well," Ponting explained at a pre-match press conference in Southampton. "Motivation is never a factor for this side. Everyone gears themselves up and gets ready for games. Whether it's playing against a very good team or a weaker team everyone is keen to play, and I'm sure you'll see a very good Australian team take the field tomorrow."

Statisticians, bring your almanacks. Scorers, bring an assistant. Records will tumble, and Ponting doesn't quite agree with Matthew Hayden's earlier statement that Australian cricketers didn't care about personal landmarks and achievements. "Everyone wants to do something special, in every game that you play," he said. "Watching the USA-New Zealand game the other day someone made a big hundred, and hopefully we can do the same. Ideally we'd like one of the batsmen to make a big hundred and have one of the bowlers get six or seven [wickets] for not very many."

The ideal scenario may not pan out but, barring constant rain for two days, Australia will get their Champions Trophy campaign off to a swashbuckling start. It's important that they do, because this cup is one piece of silverware missing from their overstocked trophy cabinet. When asked if the fact that Australia had never won this tournament made the current campaign more important, Ponting said: "I guess it is. A lot of our guys have spoken about this. Looking back, this is a tournament we've not done well in. We made the semi-finals last time around in Sri Lanka, but were beaten by Sri Lanka. We've won many tournaments around the world but this is one that we haven't, so there is an extra bit riding on this for Australia."

For the Americans, though, this tournament is a chance to rub shoulders with the very best in the game. How much they will learn is debatable, but Richard Staple, the captain, seemed to think they were better for the experience. "I learned a lot from the New Zealand game. Nathan Astle the opening batsman, he didn't come out and blast from the first ball even though he's one of the top players in the world. He took time to build his innings and batted right through. And the way they bowled as well. Jacob Oram started off scratchily but stuck to a good line throughout and ended with very economical figures. These are just two examples of the sort of things you can learn from playing against the best teams."

Staple also believed that repeated thumpings at the hands of much better teams wasn't detrimental to the cause. "Soccer started out in a similar way in the United States. We used to get beaten by most teams but now we are No. 7 in the world because of the development of the game and the proper infrastructure that was put in place. Hopefully with the exposure and experience we gather from this tournament we can have similar development in cricket back in America."

That Staple kept a straight face when asked if his side was going into the match believing they could win was remarkable. "Well, yes, obviously," he replied. "It's a daunting task but we have to at least believe that we can play hard, and that it's a game of cricket and anything can happen." That's the first bit of learning for Staple: some things are in the realm of possibility, others things merely probable, but the USA beating Australia is not one of them.