The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), it is the second most important Cricket event, after the Cricket World Cup. The tournament involves the eight highest-ranked One Day International teams as of six months prior to the tournament.
Current
The 2013 tournament will be hosted in England, nine years after they last staged the event and Cardiff, Edgbaston and the Oval will be the grounds used to host the fixtures during the three-week tournament which begins June 6th. Each ground will host four group matches in the competition, which will see the eight teams divided into two pools of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals which are hosted at the Oval and Cardiff. The winners of each semi-final then progress to the final at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday 23 June.
Group B
India
India are currently involved in a five-match series of One-Day International matches with England and they are in the lead, 2-1. Out of the last 13 ODI matches between India and England on Indian soil, India have won all 13. This is one of many preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy in the summer and if India win this it will give them plenty of confidence. India are the current World Cup champions after winning it in 2011 and with experienced captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, they could repeat their success. In the last ICC Champions Trophy India failed to make it past round 1 and their first fixture this year against the last series hosts, South Africa.
South Africa
Despite being the hosts of the last Champions Trophy,South Africa couldn’t make it past the first round. This time round they start their campaign against India on Thursday 6 June in Cardiff. The South African cricket team, nickname the Proteas, won the first ever ICC Champions Trophy in 1998 and are favourites with the bookmakers to win this years tournament. South Africa are the number 1 team in the world at the minute for test matches and they will be no walk over in the summer.
Pakistan
As preparation for this summers Champions Trophy,Pakistan will play Ireland in a two-match one-day international series at the end of May. Pakistan were famously knocked out of the 2007 World Cup by Ireland and as well as wanting revenge, it will be a good warm up for their first match of the tournament on Friday 7 June when they face West Indies. In the last series of this tournament, Pakistan made it to the semi-finals so this time round they will want to go that one step further and make it to the final.
West Indies
The West Indies have been known to have some of the best players in the world play for them which has contributed to them winning the Cricket World Cup twice, the World Twenty20 last year and also the Champions Trophy in 2004. Beginning on the 1st February in Perth, West Indies take on Australia in a five-match series. For this series they have recalled Sarwan after he has not represented the nation for 18 months. Narsingh Deonarine is also included for the first time in more than two years and these two could be kept in the squad for this summers Champions Trophy.
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There have been six Champions Trophy tournaments so far with the 2013 series being the seventh. The most recent tournament was 2009/10 where South Africa were the host nation after originally being organised to be in Pakistan, but was changed due to security concerns. After a number of nail-biting games, Australia successfully defended their title beating New Zealand with something to spare in the final. New Zealand had upset the form book by defeating Pakistan in the semi-finals aided by poor umpiring and dropped catches, unfortunately for New Zealand, their luck ran out in the final. Bookmakers are already offering odds for the 2013 champion with South Africa leading the way as favourite with England and Australia very close behind. Despite reaching the final of the last tournament, New Zealand are the outsiders to be victorious this year. The 2013 ICC Champions Trophy will be the last time the tournament is played as the ICC moves towards having one championship for each of the game’s three formats from 2015. The tournament is part of the Future Tours Program in 2013 but does not appear after that, with the play-offs for the World Test Championship scheduled for June 2017.
