Woodworm and CA on the big stage!

Cricket's second biggest 50-over event, the Champions Trophy, begins in South Africa on Today, as the sport's top eight teams vie for glory. The tournament was due to be held in Pakistan last year but was postponed and moved because of security concerns.

Two teams from two groups of four will form the semi-finals, with the final to be staged in Centurion on 5 October. England face South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka but are without star men Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.
Group A consists of holders Australia, India, Pakistan and the West Indies.  The West Indies side look to be in more trouble than England as there main players are boycotting the tournament over pay.

Lessons have been learned from the poorly ran 2007 World Cup, which comprised 16 teams and took more than six weeks to complete its 51 matches, with only 15 games over a far more sensible two-week period in this competition.
The loss of crowd-pullers such as Flintoff and Pietersen, plus India's cavalier opening batsman Virender Sehwag, is unfortunate, however CA sponsored Tillakaratne Dilshan with his infamous  “Dilscoop” and WOODWORM sponsored Shaoib Malik with his big-hitting will not fail in entertaining the crowd. There will also be another WOODWORM sponsored player looking to add to his glowing International reputation and that is Graham Onions, Onions made his ODI debut in England’s only win against Australia and will be hoping to get the new ball again in this tournament.

The ICC will be praying for many action-packed close contests if the event is to continue in the long term.