By BV Swagath
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today announced the Schedule of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. ECB will be hosting the Champions Trophy 2013 in three cities – Cardiff, Birmingham and London in the month of June. This will be the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy as decided by the International Cricket Council. The ICC had made a decision to conduct only one global tournament for each format of the game from the year 2015.
The 2013 tournament to be held in England will be the 7th edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. Interestingly, the tournament will not feature Bangladesh and Zimbabwe! This is because the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 has been restricted to 8 teams. The teams are divided equally in two groups as below:
Group A: England, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka
Group B: India, South Africa, Pakistan and West Indies
According to the ECB website, Tournament director Steve Elworthy had commented that: "This will be an incredible opportunity for fans to see the world's very best one-day sides in action over the space of less than three weeks and the fixture schedule has thrown up a host of exciting head-to-head contests. The format means every match counts and all eight teams will feel that they are capable of winning the tournament in a competition which is set to be one of the highlights of the 2013 summer. "
Following is the Schedule of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 as per the ECB:
Thursday June 6: India v South Africa (Day) - Cardiff
Friday June 7: West Indies v Pakistan (Day) - The Oval
Saturday June 8: England v Australia (Day) - Edgbaston
Sunday June 9: Sri Lanka v New Zealand (Day) - Cardiff
Monday June 10: Pakistan v South Africa (Day) - Edgbaston
Tuesday June 11: India v West Indies (Day) - The Oval
Wednesday June 12: Australia v New Zealand (Day/Night) - Edgbaston
Thursday June 13: England v Sri Lanka (Day/Night) - The Oval
Friday June 14: West Indies v South Africa (Day) - Cardiff
Saturday June 15: India v Pakistan (Day) - Edgbaston
Sunday June 16: England v New Zealand (Day) - Cardiff
Monday June 17: Sri Lanka v Australia (Day/Night) - The Oval
Tuesday June 18: Rest day
Wednesday June 19: Semi-final A1 v B2 (Day) - The Oval
Thursday June 20: Semi-final A2 v B1 (Day) - Cardiff
Friday June 21: Rest day
Saturday June 22: Rest day
Sunday June 23: Final (Day) - Edgbaston