Johannesburg, Sept. 21: Finally, it is time to test whether the theorising about the future of one-day international cricket has substance or is all talk. The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy gets going with the opening game between South Africa and Sri Lanka, and if expectations here are anything to go by, we should be in for 15 days of razor-sharp action.

Many imponderables are in play here. The International Cricket Council responded to the rising tide of criticism of their event by organising this tournament in a format that brings together the top eight teams, gives them three shots at going through to the semifinals after which it is open season. All involved therefore have much to play for.

It has however, been far from smooth sailing for the tournament organisers and the West Indies issue continues to fester and in a sense eat into the credibility of the event. Having said that, the other seven teams look set for the fray.

This event is also a test — at least in some measure — of the survival of the 100-over format of cricket. The World Cup in the sub-continent is two years away and many eyes — not least those of the sponsors — will be trained on events here to assess its viability in the face of the threat mounted by T20 cricket.

The eight teams have been divided into two groups with Group A comprising Australia, India, Pakistan and the Windies while Group B has South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and England. Each team in the group play the other once, with the top two going through to the knockout round, the semifinals.

With Johannesburg as the node, matches will alternately be played at the Wanderers here and at Centurion, venue for the opening match that pits the hosts and Sri Lanka. And while both sides hit confident notes in their match-eve interactions with the media, it will be interesting to see how South Africa cope with close to three months of inactivity in the face of the match-ready Lankans.

The Proteas were dealt an early blow with the news that the destructive opener Herschelle Gibbs has been sidelined for at least the next three days with a strained rib and the relatively untested Hashim Amla will take his place. This tournament — possibly the last one of its kind — has an interesting history in that it has never seen a repeat winner. South Africa won the first edition, then called the ICC Knock-Out and will thus be out to buck the record.

Other than the Gibbs blow, the hosts are keen to return to action, as skipper Graeme Smith said in Centurion on the day. In Smith himself, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis and J.P. Duminy the team have an attractive array of attacking batsmen backed up by Mark Boucher and the big-hitting Albie Morkel.

The bowling looks well-served with the fit-again Dale Steyn, exciting prospect Wayne Parnell, Kallis and Morkel with Makhaya Ntini waiting in the wings.

They will be up against a Lankan side that has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride into the tournament. The defeat in the final of the Compaq Cup at India’s hands was followed by another heavy loss to Pakistan in their first practice game here. Things seem to have reached a turnaround point with a win over the West Indies on Sunday and as skipper Kumar Sangakkara pointed out, Lanka tend to play terribly ahead of tournaments and then start to get it together.