Australia's Ryan Rowland-Smith said his team was perfectly placed to win their upcoming qualifying tournament and advance to next year's World Baseball Classic. 
The Southern Thunder have named their strongest possible squad for the Sydney qualifiers, which run from   February 11-14.
They will vie with New Zealand, South Africa and the Philippines for a spot in the 16-team tournament - baseball's equivalent of a world cup.
Australia finished last among the teams that qualified for the 2013 edition but veteran Rowland-Smith believes the new squad will have no trouble qualifying for the showpiece tournament.
"On paper, as far as rosters go, we have the best roster, we have the most depth," he said. "The toughest thing for team Australia and this is a gift and a curse - we have the elite players on the squad but when you do have a better team, it's tough to get everyone available.
"If you didn't have such a good team you would have all your guys available because they wouldn't be playing internationally, they wouldn't be playing at a high level in the States."
Australia's 28-man squad will be boosted by nine players affiliated with Major League clubs in the US, as well as the likes of long-time servants Rowland-Smith and Trent Oeltjen, who played for the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Dodgers respectively.