Ponting is a real one-day star (Allsport).

By David Clough, PA Sport

World Cup holders Australia remain a distance clear of the field in one-day cricket and are obvious favourites to retain their crown.

The Aussies won 10 matches on the trot to prove their superiority in England four years ago - and there is no reason to suspect they have done anything but improve since then.

Two key players - the Waugh twins - have departed, but Australia's batting line-up remains awesome.

New captain Ricky Ponting has a Rolls Royce technique and an extra special talent which makes him, alongside hugely destructive wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist, a frightening prospect for any one-day bowler.

Yet Australia's strength does not lie merely in the star quality of a handful of players.

Unquestionably Ponting, Gilchrist and Michael Bevan with the bat - and Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne with the ball - are world-class in any era.

Worse, though, for anyone hoping they have a chance of lowering Australia's colours is that every position in the order belongs to a player any international team would be happy to build itself around.

The Australian side of the past five years is freakishly talented in all departments and deserves uncontested favouritism to once again rule the world in southern Africa.

To do so, though, they will have to rule in a game of notoriously narrow margins -- and even arch exponents Australia could conceivably fall prey to the fickle nature of one-day cricket.

The Aussies have no obvious frailty.

But the loss of Steve Waugh's tactical nous and never-say-die attitude is bound to weaken them.

It was Waugh who kept Australia in the competition with a one-day hundred he rated at the time as perhaps his best innings ever when his team got the better of South Africa in their final Super Six match at Headingley back in 1999.

That sort of last-ditch counter-attack may not be needed this time. But Waugh's absence - along with the fact Australia made it hard for themselves last time with a slow start in England - at least give minor chinks of hope to those who believe they stand a chance of ousting the champions.

But which countries can count themselves as possible pretenders to the Aussies' throne?

Hosts South Africa failed last time only on a countback technicality after tying the Edgbaston semi-final against Australia which many contend remains the best one-day match ever played.

That means South Africa have motivation indeed as they go in search of revenge in front of their home support.

They have a clutch of outstanding players too in the likes of Jacques Kallis, captain Shaun Pollock and Herschelle Gibbs.

Others, though, have questions to answer.

Veteran pace bowler Allan Donald has adapted an enduring talent but must now be on his last legs as an international cricketer.

Lance Klusener - the irresistible force of World Cup 99 - has much to prove too, particularly because opposition captains have had notable success in negating his sensational late-order hitting simply by taking the pace right off the ball.

Among the other contenders to push Australia, 1999 finalists Pakistan have long since proved themselves too inconsistent for serious recommendation.

They are in any case in a state of disarray in recent times.

Sri Lanka have three hugely talented cricketers in Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene. But away from the sub-continent their lack of strength in depth looks likely to be exposed.

England are surely in no fit state to suddenly announce themselves as a world-class force.

But New Zealand are habitual over-achievers, and their current line-up has extra ammunition to add to the usual bits-and-pieces recipe and is maybe a little more likely than ever to ruffle a few feathers.

The West Indies have recently hinted at a long overdue revival and, particularly if Brian Lara can re-harness his troubled genius, they may finally have a team capable of causing a stir again.

If Australia are to be toppled, though, surely the most likely surprise package is India - as long as Sourav Ganguly's team turn up en masse notwithstanding contract wrangles.

Captained arguably by the shrewdest - and certainly the most confident - leader in world cricket in Ganguly, India have developed quickly over the past two years into a substantial threat to all in the one-day game.

Their top six compare favourably even with the mighty Australians.

Shot-a-ball opener Virender Sehwag has been a revelation over the past 12 months, and in Sachin Tendulkar they have the world's number one batsman.

Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif give them power to add in the middle order and an injection of youth which helps to make a mockery of India's former reputation as a ponderous fielding side.

It is only in the bowling department that India fall significantly short of Australia's world-beating standards.

Left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan will lead the attack well but cannot do the job on his own. Ashish Nehra and the back-up seamers are vulnerable, and away from slow sub-continental wickets there will be fewer cheap overs from high-class pair Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble who will have to concentrate on their undoubted skills as attacking spinners.

It is a bowling formula which will prove good enough in most cases. But judged against the unerring lines and penetrating pace Australia can rely upon from McGrath and Jason Gillespie, India - whose comparative frailty has been in evidence most recently in New Zealand - have more ifs and buts to contend with.

Their emerging talent nonetheless makes them the second-likeliest World Cup winners this winter - well adrift of Australia and well in front of a belatedly resurgent West Indies who along with New Zealand could just be up to proving the best of the rest.