Australian Test skipper Michael Clarke believes the country’s Twenty20 squad have the ability to win the upcoming World Cup in Sri Lanka which all gets underway on September 18.

Clarke will not feature in the tournament later this month, having decided back in January that he would focus on playing for the Australian Test and one-day teams.

The Aussies are considered outsiders according to the T20 world cup betting odds and sit in ninth place in the Twenty20 world rankings. However, the Test captain believes there is enough talent in the squad to win the upcoming tournament.

Clarke said: "I think we can win the Twenty20 World Cup for sure. "We've got the talent, I think we showed that in the last game against Pakistan in the UAE. "We've showed it in patches over the last couple of years and we made the final last time around and I hope we can go one better."

There is no doubting there has been a steady decline in Australian cricket as the dominant force of the game over recent years but there have also been recent signs the side are improving in all forms of the sport. With the loss of the likes of Shane Warne, Glen McGrath, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in a relatively short space of time, it would be hard for any team to maintain the high standards that we have come to expect from the Aussies.

However with young players coming through and a strong willed captain in the in the form of George Bailey, they certainly have the potential to go far in the upcoming World Cup and even challenge for the title in the subcontinent.

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