Thoughts on the World Cup Squad

So the Aussie team for the world cup is out. I've had a few hours to digest the team list and here is the initial reaction:

The things that worry me:
1. We are taking five players who are or recently have been injured. Tait and Ponting missed the last match through injury. M. Hussey injured himself in that match, and is in a race to recover from surgery. And finally Lee, Bollinger and did I mention Tait are all trying to reestablish themselves at international level after significant injuries.
2. We have a bowling attack that could go horribly wrong. Johnson is notoriously brilliant or bad. Lee, Tait and Bollinger are all struggling to recapture the form that their reputations are built on, and at the pace they bowl the margin between unplayable and boundary balls is fairly small. Worse than that, there is the constant worry that one of them will break down again. I don't think we should have all four of these in the squad. Perhaps someone like McKay or Siddle for Tait would have been better (Harris if he was fit but...). Hauritz is perhaps the pick of the bowlers - a sentence that that in itself worries me.
3. The two people who have, at least in theory, the most influence on the team are both struggling for form. Captain and vice captain have both struggled all summer to put together much of a score. As these two are almost certainly the first two picked that puts pressure on the rest of the team. I am not sure that Clarke should be in the squad at all given his form in the two short forms of the game over the last year or two.

It is not all bad news though. Things I like include:
A. This is a versatile team. Both wicketkeepers have the potential to play as batsmen. Watson, Hastings, Smith and David Hussey are all effectively allrounders in this form of the game. White and Clarke are more than useful part-timers with the ball. Add to that the fact that Lee and Johnson can both hit the ball a mile on a good day, and most of the squad can be useful in more than one area. This has been the secret to Victoria's success over the past five or so years.
B. It is good to see that there are a few Victorians in the team. Victoria has been in 13 of the past 15 finals across the three disciplines in the last 5 years. I just hope it is not too little too late. They still haven't found room for Hodge- the best domestic one day player going around. You wonder what he did to the selectors. Hastings gets a run, but at best will have eight internationals under his belt when he starts the World cup.

Overall a mixed bag. The question is whether we can win with this combination. I think we can, if all our risks pay off. If Lee, Johnson and co bowl to potential, and Ponting and the batsmen find form, then this team will be hard to beat. However I think in reality it is between South Africa and India, with England, Sri Lanka and the Aussies as outsiders.