Kuala Lumpur: Organisers of this month's tri-nations series in Malaysia said on Friday they hope the one-off tournament will become an annual fixture, while promising plenty of runs from the new cricket ground.
World champions Australia will take on the West Indies in Tuesday's opening match of the tournament, which also includes India and serves as a tuneup for next month's Champions Trophy in India.
Each team will play the other twice for a total of six matches, capped by the final on September 24.
Two pitches will be used for the series at Kuala Lumpur's new Kinrara Cricket Oval, both "hard true surfaces that will give the players the best chance to make runs," tournament director Brendan McClements said at the ground on Friday.
"It will be a One-Day pitch on which batsmen will have the confidence ... where they can attack," the Australian said.
The matches, all of which will be day-night games played under lights, will be "reasonably fast paced ... and high scoring," McClements said.
The tournament is the result of repeated pleas to the International Cricket Council by the Malaysian Cricket Association to allow it to host a One-Day international tournament to help promote the game in this soccer-mad country.
MCA President Imran Ja'afar said the tournament will be a test of the association's ability to host such major tournaments in the future.
"We are under examination and scrutiny," he said. "If we pass, and hopefully we will pass with flying colors, we will be making a very serious pitch" with the ICC to host the tournament every year, he said.
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Malaysia has already been approved as host of the ICC's Under-19 World Cup in 2008, the first time a non-Test playing country will hold the tournament, said Imran, a member of the Malaysian royalty who has been playing cricket since his boarding school days in England.
The tournament will be keenly watched for the return of India's Sachin Tendulkar, One-Day cricket's highest run-scorer.
He will be playing his first full match since undergoing surgery on his right shoulder for a cyst and a tear in March.
Because of the surgery, Tendulkar missed the series against England in India, as well as the Tests and One-Day Internationals against the West Indies that concluded in July.
He returned to the team for a tri-nations tournament last month in Sri Lanka, which was rained out. Tendulkar played only a few balls to make two not out.
Although the threat of rain is always present in tropical Malaysia, the downpours here are thunderous and short. Officials said they do not expect major rain disruptions.
McClements said the drainage system of the sand-based Bermuda grass outfield is "equal to the best in the world," and "even if we do have rain interruption we won't lose much time" as the water will disappear within 15 minutes.
The 4,500-seat Kinrara Oval has been built from the ground up during the last few weeks, complete with flood lights imported from the United States.
On Friday, carpenters and workers were busy erecting sponsor tents, fixing a giant TV screen for replays and touching up the team dressing rooms.
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