National Coach Jon Deeble says Australia's top priority for next month's World Baseball Classic will be to earn "credibility" on the international stage

The Australian Baseball Federation today named a 30-man squad for the Classic, including 14 players from the team which secured Silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics as well as a handful of former and current Major League stars

Australia has drawn world superpowers the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in its group, as well as a tough Italian team loaded with Major League talent

The Classic, which will be the first international baseball tournament to feature the world's best professionals, begins on March 3, with Australia playing all three of its pool games in Florida

Australia's first game will be against Italy on March 8, with the Venezuela game on March 10 and Dominican Republic match-up on March 11

Former Major League All-Star catcher David Nilsson will lead the team which also includes Kansas City Royals first baseman Justin Huber, Minnesota Twins infielder Glenn Williams, Seattle Mariners pitcher Travis Blackley and Boston Red Sox infielder Trent Durrington

The squad, however, is dominated by promising minor league talent and amateur players, all looking to make an good impression on the world stage

As such, Deeble is keeping his team goals realistic
"It's going to be tough" said Deeble, who guided Australia to its first-ever Olympic baseball medal in Athens
"The biggest thing I want out of this for our country is credibility
What is exciting for us is that we now have players like (Glenn) Williams, (Trent) Durrington and (David) Nilsson to put into our line up
I think we are going to get better
But, were not kidding ourselves, we still have a long way to go
The Dominicans will roll out an all-star team, Venezuela is loaded with elite players and Italy has plenty of guys with major league experience on their roster"