Australia is primed for its biggest ever challenge when its World Baseball Classic pool begins next week

Manager Jon Deeble said every player on the thirty-man roster is genuinely excited about competiting in the greatest-ever array of baseball talent in the one series

Deeble said the team was not daunted by the prospect of facing some of the game’s biggest names when they play Dominican Republic, Italy and Venezuela next week in Orlando, Florida
Dominican Republic’s roster includes St Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols, Boston Red Sox David Ortiz and New York Mets Pedro Martinez - Italy has San Diego Padre catcher Mike Piazza, Texas Ranger David Dellucci and Detroit Tiger Matt Mantei - while Venezuela has Minnesota Twin Johan Santana, Philadelphia Phillie Bobby Abreu and Florida Marlin Miguel Cabrera

Deeble said the tag of underdog sat comfortably with the players whose mission statement was to bring credibility to Australian baseball

He said history reflected strongly that the Australians love nothing more than a challenge as highlighted in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games when the team exceeded everyone’s expectations to win a Silver Medal

“We’ve got a really good mix of experience, exciting young players and some amateurs who are very good players” Deeble said
“It’s not going to be easy, we’re not kidding ourselves in that regard, but one thing Australia has in its favour is that it plays well under tournament conditions
It’s a short, round robin series and the thing about baseball is that you just never know what is going to happen”

Deeble said he had spoken to former Milwaukee Brewer All Star catcher David Nilsson who was preparing for the WBC in Arizona
He said Nilsson was keen to hook up with so many of his teammates that played on the Silver Medal winning team
“David was really important for us in Athens and I expect him to be a real leader again at the WBC” Deeble said
“We’ve got a number of players like Justin Huber, Glenn Williams, John Stephens, Damian Moss and Trent Durrington who have major league experience and that’s going to help
And, we have some guys like Brad Harman, Ryan Rowland Smith, Brett Roneberg and Paul Mildren who are going places in their respective minor league organisations
We’re coming off a good series against the Chinese Taipei team and Chiba Lotte, the Japan National Champions last year
We’re ready to go!”

Australia will play Italy in its first game at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, Orlando on March 7