Ireland's batsmen might have to start praying because their modest playing backgrounds will be little help in Friday's World Cup Super Eights clash with Australia on what's expected to be a fast Barbados pitch.

Australia's newest pace sensation Shaun Tait is working on his very own Friday the 13th nightmare for the Irish club players who have little experience of taking on the sort of 150kph deliveries the young South Australian will be slinging down the Kensington Oval pitch.

Unbeaten in six matches, Ricky Ponting's world champions are trying to resist the temptation of focusing on next week's crucial encounters with Sri Lanka (April 16) and New Zealand (April 20) in Grenada.

"I'm looking forward to getting to a track with a bit of pace," said Tait, who has taken 11 wickets in the tournament.

"It will be a bit of a change to what we've had so far.

"We bat pretty well on bouncy tracks as well. With Glenn McGrath's steepling bounce and our bowlers, it should work out well.

"Some of these guys probably aren't accustomed to the quicker bowlers."

However, Tait admitted he had got "carried away" against Scotland and the Netherlands.

"I tried to bowl a bit too fast and really tried to knock them over early and got off the track," Tait said.

"You've got to play against the better sides again and if you get too carried away and start bowling half-volleys trying to knock them over, it might flow into next game.

"I'll just stick to what I did last game (taking 3-41 against England)."

Ponting said: "I'm just looking forward to seeing Taity bowl.

"He took a number of big steps forward I thought in the last game, especially his control and how he went about using the new ball.

"For him now it's about doing that over and over and building his own confidence to know that he can come in and do it game after game."

The fact that the final is also in Barbados will boost Australia if they can put on a good showing on Friday against Ireland.

"We'll see what this one (pitch) has got to offer but if it has got more like an Australian sort of feel about it then it should be good for us more than any other team," Ponting said.

"That's what we're brought up on. That's what we want to play on."

Another encouraging sign was key all-rounder Shane Watson who batted in the nets and is on track to return from a calf injury for the April 24-25 semi-finals.

"He's had his first hit today and he's looking pretty good," Ponting said.

Team physio Alex Kountouris has told Watson to prepare for bowling in the nets on April 16, 17 and 18 in a bid to prove his fitness for the April 20 game against the Kiwis.

Ponting says Watson is feeling confident.

"He's such a crucial link in our team. Not having him in the team last week made selection really difficult on which way we were going to go.

"That New Zealand game, hopefully he is right for that."

Playing on April 20 would give Watson a game under his belt for the cut-throat semi-final, but Ponting hinted that Australia may gamble on the Queenslander for the semi-final.

"Maybe bringing him back in for the semi-final is not such a big deal after all," Ponting said.

Australia are likely to choose batsman Brad Hodge again this week ahead of pacemen Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark for the spot vacated by Watson, who was injured against Bangladesh on March 31.

Whoever plays for Australia, it will all be exciting for the Irish, who idolise Ponting's side.

Shock participants in the Super Eights after upsetting Pakistan in the group round, Ireland are yet to win a game in the second stage.

"For a lot of the guys, a lot of their heroes actually play in the Australian team," Ireland's opening batsman Jeremy Bray told AAP.

Bray is one of three Australians in the Irish team along with captain Trent Johnston and medium-pacer David Langford-Smith.

Ponting said with Australia (8 points, +1.51) narrowly trailing New Zealand (8pts, +1.73) on run-rate, it was important not to focus too much on that aspect.

"South Africa might have been a bit guilty of thinking about that in their game against Bangladesh and it ended up costing them the game," he said.

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