'Every game matters," said former England captain and award-winning writer  Michael Atherton, earlier this week. As always, he struck the nail firmly on the head in identifying the unique appeal of the ICC Champions Trophy, which starts in England and Wales on Thursday with the opening game between World Cup holders India and South Africa.

Four teams in two groups, the top two in each progressing to the semi­finals and then the final. Simple, quick and easy. Five games in total for the finalists. Even if a team wins the first two of three group games there is still a chance they could be eliminated if three of the four teams finish with a 2:1 record and the fourth team a with 0:3 record. Every game counts. It is not so in any other tournament.

Why are South Africa not starting among the favourites? Because nine of their 15-man squad have played no cricket for the past two months and have just two warm-up matches to prepare for the three group matches against India, Pakistan and the West Indies.

What is South Africa's "secret weapon"? They hope it will be the pre-tournament, six-day get-together they enjoyed in Amsterdam in the company of explorer Mike Horn. A similar adventure in Switzerland before last year's tour of England resulted in greater unity and sense of purpose than even the most senior players could recall – so the experiment is being repeated.

In Switzerland the squad were roped together as they crossed a treacherous glacier following a safety briefing on what to do if one of them fell. It may have been a metaphor, but their cricket in England was undeniably indicative of a squad playing for each other rather than for themselves.

Physically demanding
The lack of mountains and glaciers in Holland resulted in a more "fun" and less physically demanding examples of team-building although it is far more difficult than you might imagine for two men to ride bicycles while roped together. And considerably more amusing.

A sense of humour might well be important in Cardiff where South Africa's last two visits (in 2008 and last year) have ended in soggy abandonments with just over 20 balls bowled in total. And if they do make it through a full day's play they are likely to encounter local conditions that do them no favours. A low, slow pitch will suit India's spinners far more than the Proteas' seamers.

The pitch should be friendlier for the second game against Pakistan at Edgbaston in Birmingham but that will be offset by a capacity crowd certain to be far more vocally in support of Misbah-ul-Haq's team than AB de Villiers's.

The final game is back in Cardiff against the West Indies, who have the good fortune to be playing their first two games on the fast and bouncy wicket at London's Oval – a venue that is even more suited to South Africa but will not host them unless they finish second in their group and play in the first semifinal. If South Africa top their group they will play in the second semifinal – back in Cardiff.

Jacques Kallis' withdrawal from the squad has made a mess of the starting XI's balance. Most teams will do all they can to play seven batsmen given the damage two new balls can inflict in early summer conditions. Without genuine all-rounders, it leaves room for just four bowlers. The days of "fiddling" a fifth allocation of 10 overs from part-timers have been drastically curtailed by the change in playing conditions, which allows a maximum of four rather than five boundary fielders in the "middle overs".

Real bowlers
If the Proteas choose to use seven batsmen, with Ryan McLaren as the all-rounder at number eight, they would be reliant on JP Duminy to provide the bulk, if not all of the fifth bowler's quota. Duminy has not played a match of any sort for seven months.

In fact, he had his first "full-on" net session in the Netherlands this week. "I was a bit nervous but it went well," he said. "Facing real bowlers instead of a machine was a nice change. It's been a long lay-off but I felt good."

It would surely be too much of a risk to rely on Duminy's bowling – with very part-time assistance from Faf du Plessis (also injured for a month until two weeks ago). McLaren, then, will bat at number seven to accommodate a fifth bowler. Neither option is ideal, and neither would be taken if Kallis was there. But life goes on without the great man. It has to.

Likely starting XI: Hashim Amla, Alviro Petersen, David Miller, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Reserves: Colin Miller, Farhaan Behardien, Rory Kleinveldt, Aaron Phangiso.

The teams to beat and the players to watch

England: Start as marginal favourites on home soil with a young generation of newcomers and half a dozen proven match winners. Players to watch: Jos Buttler, Eion Morgan, Joe Root, Stuart Broad.

West Indies: Depth of explosive batting is almost unprecedented, they have a good record in the tournament and experienced bowlers.

Players to watch: Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy.

Sri Lanka: All bases are covered. Solid and experienced top order, explosive hitters and every bowling option. Players to watch: Mahela Jayawardene, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekera, Lasith Malinga.

India: They are not short of cricket after the IPL. Likely to play with dangerous abandon. Deadly if it comes off.

Players to watch: MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav.

New Zealand: Always there or thereabouts and, as always, packed full of all-rounder options. Players to watch: Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Colin Munro, Tim Southee.

Pakistan: Quality seam attack although inexperience will count against them. Plenty of proven performers with the bat.

Players to watch: Kamran Akmal, Mohammmad Hafeez, Mohammad Irfan, Saeed Ajmal.

Australia: Weakest-looking Australian one-day team for two decades. Which doesn’t mean it is, in fact, weak. Still enough match-winners to pull it off.

Players to watch: David Warner, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh.

Previous winners

1998: South Africa beat West Indies in Dhaka
2000: New Zealand beat India in Nairobi
2002: Sri Lanka and India shared (washout)
2004: West Indies beat England in London
2006: Australia beat West Indies in Mumbai
2009: Australia beat New Zealand in Centurion