Michael Clarke believes Australia showed in its last two games against Pakistan that it has the capacity to win the Twenty20 World Cup.
Australia slipped below Ireland to tenth in the world with defeat to Pakistan in the first of the three-match series, but put in fine displays in the second match, where Pakistan won by a run in a super over, and the final dead rubber which it won by 94 runs.
Australia's World Twenty20 campaign starts with a match against Ireland on September 19 and Clarke feels his country has a legitimate shot at victory in Sri Lanka.
Clarke, who will play his first match of the Australian domestic season for New South Wales against Western Australia on Sunday, has offered his encouragement to coach Mickey Arthur, Twenty20 skipper George Bailey and his Test and ODI number two Shane Watson.
"We need to turn (the ranking) around, and what better time than at the World Cup," Clarke said
"I think we can win the Twenty20 World Cup.
"We've got the talent and we showed that in the last game against Pakistan in the UAE, and I think we've showed it in patches over the last couple of years."
"I've been on the phone to Mickey Arthur, George and Shane Watson. I'm supporting as closely as I possibly can," he said.
"(But) I'm really focused on trying to get my head back around Test cricket."
Clarke and his Blues teammates face Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match after Sunday's one-dayer but much of the side will have just one more first-class fixture before the first Test due to the Sydney Sixers playing in the Twenty20 Champions League in October.
The Perth Scorchers are also involved and James Pattinson likely to be called upon to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in South Africa.
Australia's bowling coach Ali de Winter will travel to the Champions League to do some red-ball work with his charges during the tournament and monitor their workload.
But Clarke is confident the short form of the game will not ruin his side's Test preparations.
"Unfortunately there's nothing you can do. The Champions League has been on for a couple of years now, it was put in this place a long time ago," Clarke said at the Blues' season launch on Thursday.
"I guess the advantage is that all countries are affected the same way, it's not just the Australian players.
"There's a lot of South Africans involved as well ... it's fair for everybody.
"It's important the guys over in the Champions League play well there and hopefully have some success.
"But in the back of their mind they're thinking about the start of the Test series.
"They're a very good team, it's no coincidence they're the number one Test team.
"We're going to have to be at our best.
"We saw them not long ago in South African conditions, we know how good they are."
AAP/ABC
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, australia First posted September 13, 2012 20:01:17
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