Australia’s quest to add the ICC Champions Trophy to its otherwise complete set of major international cricket prizes gets underway at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium against the West Indies tonight.

The major focus ahead of the game has been the speculation surrounding the selection of Simon Katich, the one-day team’s leading run-scorer this year. While that alone would appear to secure his place in the team, it is his failure to score at any great rate of knots that puts his place in jeopardy.

With teams these days able to post 300-plus scores with increasing regularity, Katich’s strike rate of 66 runs per 100 balls this year was never going to cut it ahead of next year’s World Cup in the West Indies.

The performance of his mooted replacement, Shane Watson, poses perhaps the most interest ahead of the three week tournament. Watson’s recent form with bat and ball has him a near certainty to at least be in the selectors’ preferred XI, but there is every chance he might open the batting with Adam Gilchrist (that in itself is a talking point, considering there are probably few wicketkeeper/all-rounder opening combinations in world cricket).

Even accounting for their history of separating the criteria for selection in the Test and one-day teams, Watson’s efforts with both bat and ball over the next three weeks will be a major topic of discussion among the selectors ahead of next month’s Ashes series opener.

It’s no secret that Andrew Flintoff’s great success as a devastating all-rounder during last year’s Ashes campaign has reignited the selectors’ desire to develop a number six who can command a place in the team on the strength of his batting or bowling alone.

This led to the selectors’ determination to try Andrew Symonds in the position last summer, despite evidence he was not suited to fill either role.

There are plenty who harbour similar doubts about Watson. He is not quick enough to get away with the fact that he doesn’t quite “do enough” with the ball, and he is yet to display any consistent form with the willow during his admittedly limited international career.

Tonight he gets a fresh opportunity to show that he can cut it on the international stage. By placing him in the opener’s slot, Watson will be given every chance to prove his worth as a batsman. The low, slow decks on the subcontinent probably won’t do much for any of the medium-fast bowlers of his ilk anyway, so he needs to be especially productive with the bat.

If he can answer the challenge in India, he would appear a shoe-in to at least make the First Test squad in Brisbane starting on November 23.