Stephen Waugh knows a thing or two about winning World Cups, and about those succinct motivational catchphrases he so liked to affix to his various campaigns.

‘No Regrets’ was the theme that carried his team to the 1999 Trophy.

‘Never Satisfied’ the title of the captain’s diary chronicling the year that followed it; ‘Never Say Die’ a subsequent recount of a defining chapter of his career that was effectively launched with Australia’s 1987 Cup win.

If he was to pen a slogan for Australia’s tilt at the upcoming ICC one-day cricket showpiece beginning it might well be ‘No Excuses’.

Even though they are the most successful nation in the 40-year history of the quadrennial 50-over championship, it is doubtful Australia have ever entered a World Cup tournament better prepared.

In ’99 they landed on underdone late spring English pitches direct from low, slow decks in the Caribbean and - understandably - took time to find their tempo.

Four years later in southern Africa, they were rattled by the suspension to Shane Warne on the eve of their opening match and the loss of strike bowler Jason Gillespie to injury inside the first fortnight, but went through the event undefeated.

Ditto in the West Indies four years hence, though their lead-in to that was scarcely ideal – beaten by a previously humiliated England in the finals of the traditional tri-series in Australia and then whitewashed three-nil by New Zealand on the other side of the Tasman.

In 1992, despite the tournament being held on home soil, the hosts were wrong-footed at the outset having entered the tournament fresh from back-to-back Test matches against India and a handful of ODIs before being ambushed by New Zealand and then South Africa in their opening two Cup games.

And in making the finals in 1987 and 1996 they were forced to battle the sub-continental conditions that continue to challenge Australian teams, a truth that was again exposed in the most recent tournament in 2011 when consecutive losses to Pakistan and India led to Australia’s expulsion at the quarter-final stage.

But come February 14 when Australia launches their 2015 Cup campaign against England in the most familiar of surrounds at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, they will have fed on a diet of more than 20 ODIs over a year that included but a handful of Tests and an unprecedented hiatus in the playing schedule.

Which means the national selectors have enjoyed the luxury of ample time and varying match situations in which to trial and assess the best available ODI talent in the country, and an extensive historical dossier on how each of them perform in Australian conditions.

So who are the 15 players to have passed that exhaustive scrutiny and earn their place for the tournament that Australia enters carrying the burden of early favouritism?

They will be identified on Sunday, even though the squad has been finalised and submitted to the ICC as per the World Cup’s requirements.

So while the other 13 competing nations will be announcing their squads over the next day or so, here is how the Australian squad might look when it is revealed on the weekend:

Batsmen:

Michael Clarke (c), Aaron Finch, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steve Smith, George Bailey

Allrounders:

Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner

Bowlers:

Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Ryan Harris, Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty

Wicketkeeper:

Brad Haddin

Related: The Australian ODI form guide

The bulk of Australia’s batting line-up chooses itself.

Aaron Finch is the team’s leading ODI runs scorer of the past 12 months, and his opening partner David Warner is in the form of his recast life. As with the partnerships Adam Gilchrist formed with Mark Waugh and then Matthew Hayden in the triple-crown era from 1999 to 2007, they hold the key to Australia’s batting fortunes.

Aaron Finch in action against the Proteas in November

Even though the squad was finalised before Shane Watson’s latest Test innings fell short of that elusive century, his ability to hit the ball cleanly and a long way – as well send down a few overs of controlled seamers when the ball is starting to reverse – makes him essential despite averaging less than 25 with the bat in ODIs over the past year.

Fitness remains the question mark over Michael Clarke’s involvement, but even if he is forced to sit out the opening rounds he is a key player as the tournament progresses and the best teams get even better. The leading runs scorers in World Cups are invariably the batsmen of true world class – Tendulkar, Ponting, Jaywardene, Hayden, Kallis et al – and Clarke is unquestionably in that category.

A year ago, Steve Smith was not sure if he had a future in ODI cricket. Today, his repertoire of scoring shots and innovation in any game situation means he will fill in as the pivotal middle-order batsman until Clarke is fit. And make it his own if the skipper doesn’t manage to make muster.

Steve Smith makes a recent ODI century against South Africa

There are some who query George Bailey’s place in Australia’s best XI. The form he showed in the one-day series in India in 2013 and his ability to close out an innings as well as shore up a top-order collapse means he must play, perhaps even as captain in Clarke’s absence. His cool-headed thinking will be crucial come the play-off matches.

Shaun Marsh is the other batsman the selectors would closely consider but a long-term elbow injury in the middle of last year saw him lose ground in the race for the final 15.

The deployment of the all-rounders may well depend on the pitch characteristics of the various venues where Australia play. But their unique skills make the selection reasonably straightforward.

Mitchell Marsh’s power hitting should see him unleashed in the top-order if the Australians get way to a flying start and want to push even harder. And his bowling at 140kph is most effective on bouncy Australian pitches, which is why he was wrapped in cotton wool after he twinged a hamstring early in the Test series.

As if it was needed, James Faulkner sent a recent reminder of his remarkable capacity to think his way through a daunting run chase when the odds are stacked in the opposition’s favour (watch below), and adding the variety he brings as a left-arm bowler with experience bowling at the end, he looms as the man for sticky situations in much the same way was Andy Bichel in 2003.

Watch James Faulkner guide Melbourne Stars to Super Over glory

Glenn Maxwell is the most talked about talent in Australia and much of that discussion revolves around whether that latent ability will materialise in a World Cup when it has proved infuriatingly ephemeral in the recent past. But the same argument was mounted when Ponting insisted on Andrew Symonds’ inclusion in the 2003 squad.

With no stand-out specialist spinner screaming to be picked, Maxwell’s value is potentially as a bowler who can contribute some runs in a hurry deep in the middle-order. It’s a role he believes he is suited to and to which his standing as Australia’s second-highest ODI wicket-taker of the past year (behind Faulkner) would attest.

“If you look at the job I've done for Australia, especially in Australia, I think I can do that spin bowler role,” he told cricket.com.au this week.

“I've bowled a lot of overs for Australia in one-day cricket (and) I feel like I've done that role really well.

“Hopefully my batting can follow suit and I can be a key person in this World Cup side, because I think we've got a great chance and everyone's going to need to pull their weight.”

Glenn Maxwell can be a match-winner for Australia

Of the auxiliary all-rounders, Sean Abbott’s name must have been debated at length but he has possibly shouldered a sufficiently large burden in this most emotional summer.

It’s the pace bowling department where the selectors would have been confronted by the greatest number of options.

As the reigning ICC Player of the Year, Mitchell Johnson’s name would have been the first to be added, in indelible ink. Around this time last year. He will be relied upon to take the big wickets in the even bigger matches.

From there, the permutations become almost endless.

Due to the fact he’s not played a one-day international since Brett Lee was opening the bowling and Julia Gillard was Australia’s Prime Minister, Ryan Harris looms as the surprise selection of the hosts’ World Cup squad when it’s unveiled at Bondi Beach on Sunday.

But even though he is 35 years of age and nursing a body that endlessly creaks and groans, he is beloved by the coach, the captain and the national selectors for his proven ability to take wickets with the new ball, restrict scoring with the old and contribute vital late runs with the bat.

In keeping with Darren Lehmann’s oft-quoted mantras of “aggressive brand of cricket” and “velocity is key”, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins seem set to edge out a number of other worthy candidates for the other specialist fast bowling berths.

Mitch Starc has been in good form in BBL|04

Both are able to bowl above 140kph which, as Johnson has shown of late, represents trouble for even the best-credentialled batsmen around the world. The fact that Starc can get the ball to swing – whether old or new – and land it at pace at a batsman’s toes, while Cummins can move it off the seam as well as target the other end of their anatomy makes for a daunting combination.

Should Harris be considered too great a risk of break down during the tournament, expect Test quick Josh Hazlewood to slot in. Which means a host of hopeful seamers around the country – most notably Kane Richardson who has played more than half a dozen ODIs in the past year – can consider themselves desperately unlucky. And Nathan Coulter-Nile’s hopes were cruelled by yet another hamstring injury.

Which is also how Xavier Doherty would feel overlooked for the sole specialist spinner’s role. Doherty has been a part of Australia’s ODI set-up for more than four years and, while not a prodigious turner of the ball, he can land regularly and reliably on a spot which will be handy on slower pitches such as the SCG and Auckland’s Eden Park.

Nathan Lyon was tried mid-year and discarded, and much has been made of Ashton Agar’s call-up to the Test squad in Sydney with some interpreting it as a chance to get him amongst the national team ahead of a likely World Cup inclusion. But with no ODI experience and just 10 wickets at an average of 40 in domestic 50-over games, his World Cup opportunities might better exist down the track.

The senior member of Australia’s squad is another whose place has been debated here and there, but Brad Haddin showed during the Melbourne Test that his glovework is as tidy as any youngster nipping at his heels. And that is what he is paid to do.

Brad Haddin took some amazing catches in Melbourne

While his Test returns with the bat have not been as bountiful as he would like, Haddin’s experience and capacity to pace an innings in line with whatever the game situation – and the tactical nous he brings to on-field discussions - places him ahead of rivals Matthew Wade and Tim Ludeman whose chances will surely come.