Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has defended his side's world number one ranking ahead of next month's Super Series against the World XI.
Australia will take on the world's top cricketers in the ICC-organised Super Series, which begins with a one-day match in Melbourne next week.
Ponting said the Australian team was deserving of its top ranking despite its Ashes loss to England earlier this month.
He said his players had faced a great deal of criticism since the defeat and saw the Super Series as an opportunity to prove their critics wrong.
"I've been looking forward to this for a long time. We've known about it for a long time and after, I guess, the disappointment of the Ashes tour for us, this is our next chance to prove to ourselves and prove to everybody that we're a very good team," he said.
"Let's not forget we're the number one-ranked side for a reason, and our performances over a long period of time have ensured that we were number one and still are number one.
"I think it's exciting that we've got the chance to get back out there in what's going to be a really tough, hard series of cricket just to show everybody how good a team we are."
Ponting also threw his support behind coach John Buchanan, saying Buchanan's value to the team was often under-rated.
"I'll always support John. I think he's been tremendous with what he's done for the Australian cricket team. [It's] sometimes undervalued, if you like, his contribution to Australian cricket," he said.
However, Ponting said it might be time for Australia to employ specialist batting and bowling coaches.
"I think that's the way the game is going," he said.
Ponting added that dumped players Damien Martyn and Jason Gillespie were both bitterly disappointed to have lost their spots in the Australian Test team.
Martyn and Gillespie, along with Queensland paceman Michael Kasprowicz, were dropped from the Test side when Australian selectors met in the aftermath of the Ashes series.
But Ponting said it would be foolish for anyone to think that their careers are over.
"Both of those guys you're speaking about there are champion players, and one thing I've learnt in this game is that you never write champion players off," he said.
"Both those guys at different times have been absolute top class performers so, as I said, you don't write them off, and you hope that they come back into the Australian team bigger and better than they were when they were there before."
The Super Series features three one-dayers in Melbourne on October 5, 7 and 9 and a six-day Test in Sydney from October 14-19.