Australia captain Aaron Finch has admitted that the mere presence of Ricky Ponting in the dressing room and on the training track immediately lifts the morale of every member of the group.
Ponting -- a dual World Cup-winning captain and three-time trophy winner - will be there as a specialist coach with the Australian team for the showpiece event.
In February, Ponting was appointed as an assistant coach for Australia's World Cup campaign, specifically working with the limited overs batsmen. Ponting has previously worked short-term with Australia's ODI and Twenty20 squads.
“Everyone wants to impress Punter, you should see them - it's like eight-year-old girls around Justin Bieber when Punter's around the changeroom. It's embarrassing, but it's great,” Finch was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
After a tough series at home against India, Australia turned things around and registered victories in India and against Pakistan. Finch played his part in the revival of fortunes, forming a fine opening partnership with Usman Khwaja.
Since making a drought-breaking 93 against India at Ranchi, Finch had three big scores and his team eight consecutive wins.
“That was really exciting for me, it meant so much to see how happy others were for me to get some runs,” he said.
“The lessons that I learned and the support that I got from players and everyone was unbelievable, and it really makes you think about the care that there is for the individual player.”
Finch admitted there were ‘a few scars’ noticeable among the members of the ODI outfit which had been involved in the preceding South Africa Test campaign that was marred by the ball-tampering saga, and that it took the new-look squad some time to find its feet.