Having lost star all-rounder Andrew Symonds to probably his last disciplinary lapse, Ricky Ponting's men could ill afford their thumping seven-wicket defeat at the hands of a rampant West Indies in their first match early yesterday.

''It all lies ahead of us,'' Ponting said. ''We know exactly what we have to do and if we're good enough, we'll get it done.''

But a win may not be enough to save Australia in the group of death.

If Sri Lanka loses to Australia but beats the West Indies on Thursday, the two teams who progress to the Super Eight stage will be decided on net run rate.

In that scenario, the West Indies' emphatic win with 4.1 overs to spare thanks to a brutal 88 off 50 balls from captain Chris Gayle and 53 from Andre Fletcher could prove particularly damaging for Australia.

Opening batsman David Warner provided a glimmer of hope for Australia after securing his place in the team in Symonds' absence and top-scoring with 63 off 53 balls, steadying the innings after his team collapsed to be 3-15.

Warner had only played one of Australia's two practice matches, featuring in its win over New Zealand with Symonds at No5.

The previous day, Australia had opened with Shane Watson and Brad Haddin with Symonds at No4, and Ponting revealed he may have used a similar line-up had Symonds not been sent home over drinking and behavioural issues last Thursday.

''We were looking at doing some slightly different things with our team in this game if Symo had been in the middle order there but he wasn't, so it's good for Dave to get that chance up the top of the order,'' Ponting said.

''Warner at the top I thought was terrific for us today. He probably played a slightly different role than he has in the past as well because we lost a couple of early wickets.''

The 22-year-old shared a 66-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Haddin, who contributed 24.

Mike and David Hussey (27) put on 30 for the sixth-wicket and Mike was unbeaten on 28 at the close.

But their performances paled against the might of Gayle, who smashed six sixes, including three off one over by Brett Lee.

TOMORROW

World Twenty20 Group C: Australia v Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

TV Time: Live on WIN from 2.25am.