2009 ICC Champions Trophy
After much delay and debate, the ICC Champions Trophy for 2009 will take place in South Africa from the 22nd of September until the 5th of October.
The ICC Champions Trophy was initially to be played in Pakistan in 2008, but security concerns saw a number of cricket teams threaten to withdraw from the Champions Trophy tournament. The ICC Champions Trophy was moved forward to 2009, and tentatively to Sri Lanka, but concerns over the weather resulted in the cricket tournament being moved once again, to South Africa. South African Cricket negotiated extensively with the ICC before agreeing to host the Champions Trophy.
The ICC Champions Trophy has be played every two years since 1998, when it was the ICC Knock Out Tournament. The last ICC Champions Trophy was played back in 2006, in India, when Australia beat the West Indies to win the Champions Trophy tournament for the first time. Other previous winners are the South Africa, New Zealand and England, with Sri Lanka and India being awarded it jointly when the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy final was washed out twice.
Several changes have been made for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy. There will now be shorter round-robin play, with the Champions Trophy tournament restricted to the top eight one-day cricket-playing nations, as of world cricket rankings from six months before the Champions Trophy takes place. That means the 2009 Champions Trophy will take place over a much shorter time frame. This, combined with the South African time zone, will be attractive for overseas audiences watching the 2009 Champions Trophy live, or following the Champions Trophy live on the internet. All the games will be played at either Johannesburg or nearby Centurion, with games starting at either 1pm or 6pm for live Champions Trophy audiences in India.
Also, the prize money for the 2009 Champions Trophy has increased dramatically, nearly quadrupling to US$4 million. Both the prize money and the tighter format of the Champions Trophy tournament show the influence of India’s lucrative Twenty20 tournaments on international cricket. All teams will be keen to do their very best to get a share of the ICC Champions Trophy prize money.
The eight teams for the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy are India, Pakistan, Australia and the West Indies in Pool A; and New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and England in Pool B. Each team plays the others in its pool once, before the top two teams progress to the Champions Trophy semi-finals. With so few games and the closeness in strength of the teams for the Champions Trophy, it will be very difficult to predict which teams will make it through to the Champions Trophy semi-finals. A weakened West Indies and an out of form New Zealand should have trouble against competition of the caliber of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy. Several of the sides have injury concerns also, which should ensure that the games of the ICC Champions Trophy will be close and exciting. The lack of second-tier teams means that the 2009 Champions Trophy should be devoid of dull, one-sided matches. All in all, it will be well worth catching the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy live.
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