- Reuters
Australia's team captain Ricky Ponting holds the tri-series cricket tournament trophy after defeating West Indies in the final in Kuala Lumpur recently.

NEW DELHI (Reuters):

THE ICC Champions Trophy begins this weekend amid greater anticipation than usual with the tournament acting as the first leg of an exciting six months of cricket, highlighted by the Ashes and next year's World Cup.

World champions Australia start as favourites, as they have in every one-day tournament over the past decade, bidding to capture the only item of silverware missing from their overflowing trophy cabinet.

As well as strength in depth and a wealth of experience, Australia's form is also encouraging after claiming a one-day tri-series victory in Malaysia last month, upstaging West Indies in the final after knocking out India.

The biennial event is rated as the second most important one-day tournament after the World Cup, which is next being contested in the Caribbean in March-April 2007.

Eight teams will be lodged in two pools for the main rounds, with Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Pakistan and England gaining direct entries as the top six teams in the ICC rankings at the April 1 cut-off date.

The defending champions West Indies and Sri Lanka will join them after knocking out Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in the pre-tournament qualifiers.

The top two from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals with the final to be played in Mumbai on November 5.

One-sided contests

The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced qualifiers after one-sided contests drew criticism in previous editions of the event launched in 1998 to raise funds to develop the game globally.

However, there is an air of anticipation this time around.

Sparks could fly when Australia meet England on October 21, the day India celebrates its biggest festival 'Diwali' or 'Festival of Lights'.

That game acts as a prelude to the Ashes series starting in Brisbane on November 23, with Australia desperate to reclaim bragging rights between the nations after England's 2-1 Test series victory last year.

The run-up to the event was marred by the Pakistan ball-tampering row during the Oval Test against England in August.

Pakistan refused to take the field to protest the decision by umpires Darrel Hair and Billy Doctrove to penalise them for ball-tampering, resulting in the first forfeit in Test history.

Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq was cleared of ball-tampering charges last week. but will be absent after being slapped with a four-match ODI ban for bringing the game into disrepute.

Australian Hair, at the centre of the row, has been omitted from the panel of umpires for the Champions Trophy.

Younis Khan, leading the side in Inzamam's absence, has said his team would be motivated to win the trophy for their captain.

Hosts India also need to dig deep to silence their critics after a dip in their one-day form led to a 4-1 series defeat in the West Indies followed by a shoddy display in Kuala Lumpur.