JOHANNESBURG: Australia captain Ricky Ponting said his team are intent on retaining the Champions Trophy despite their frantic schedule in recent months. The Australians begin their defence with a match against a depleted West Indies in Johannesburg on Saturday. “This certainly won’t be just another tournament for us. We have been on the road for a long time but this is the second biggest tournament you play for your country in one-day cricket,” said Ponting. After taking part in the ICC World Twenty20, in which they lost both their matches, they went down 2-1 in the Ashes, saw two Twenty20 internationals washed out and then thrashed England 6-1 in the one-day series. “We have had an eye on this tournament for the last couple of weeks in England. Since the Ashes series it’s been about getting things on track for here. It shouldn’t be too difficult for us to adapt. One of the positives of being away for so long is that we have been playing a lot of cricket, and a lot of good one-day cricket,” said Ponting. Australia are expected to be too strong for effectively a second string Windies team which is missing their few remaining star players, such as Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, because of a contract dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board. They beat the Australians by seven wickets in the Twenty20 event at The Oval on 6 June, although that was largely due to Bravo’s 2-31 and Gayle’s 88 from 50 balls. Despite being bowled out for 133 in their opening five-wicket defeat by Pakistan on Wednesday there was one bright note for the West Indies in the emergence of Antiguan paceman Gavin Tonge, who took 4-25 at the Wanderers and impressed with some accurate bowling.