With just three days remaining before the start of the event proper, this year's ICC Trophy tournament will move another step closer to reality today with the start of a series of formal practice matches between the teams in Toronto.

Ten sides will take to the field of play in officially-sanctioned practice games, while eight will appear at various venues across the city tomorrow. The highlight of the opening five matches will be the Canada-Ireland contest at King City which pits two of the tournament's most highly fancied sides against one another.

Other nations, like the USA and Hong Kong sides that will be travelling to the nearby location of Guelph, will be staging their own practice games. Among the remainder, many will also be staging intrasquad practice sessions.

To this point, the countdown to the tournament has been dominated by frenetic diplomatic activity on both sides of the Atlantic. Italy has already withdrawn from the event in the wake of the ICC's ruling that four of its leading players did not meet the qualifying requirements to be eligible to compete for the country.

The passages of other teams to the event have also been thrown into doubt in the light of problems that officials have encountered in obtaining visas for all of their players.

But, complemented by the formal appearance of many of the teams on the field of play, attention is rapidly beginning to turn to the real focus of the tournament.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd