ICC Champions Trophy 2008 Schedule, Venues and Format

International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently declared the schedule and venues of Champions Trophy 2008. This year, eight top teams of LG ICC ODI ranking as of March 12, will be competing in the tournament. The tournament kicks off on 11 September at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where the final match of the tournament will take place on 28 March. The two other venues of Champions Trophy 2008 are Karachi and Rawalpind, the venues of two semi final matches.

Tournament format

ICC has bought some changes in the format of this year’s Champions Trophy competition. In 2006 Champions Trophy, top ten teams of LG ICC ODI ranking participated with bottom four teams going though a preliminary round based on round-robin league system in order to win the two places of the second round where top six teams joined with them.

Now, this year eight top teams, according to LG ICC ODI ranking, will take part in the tournament. In the first stage, eight teams will be divided into two groups of four teams each and the top two teams from each group will progress to the semi final stage. Then the winners of the semi final round will face each other in the final of the tournament. Thus, there will be only 15 matches in the 17-day long tournament this year.

Group A teams:

Australia (1^st seed), India (4^th seed), Pakistan (5^th seed) and West Indies (8^th seed)

Group B teams:

South Africa (2^nd seed), New Zealand (3^rd seed), Sri Lanka (6^th seed), England (7 seed)

Schedule of the tournament

The tournament will start with Pakistan taking on West Indies in the opening day at the Gaddafi Stadium of Lahore. India will play their first match against the defending champion Australia on 13 September. Here is the full schedule of Champions Trophy 2008:

Stage	Date	Competing Teams	Venue
Group Stage	11 September 2008	Pakistan vs West Indies	Lahore
	12 September 2008	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Karachi
	13 September 2008	Australia v India	Lahore
	14 September 2008	England v Sri Lanka	Karachi
	15 September 2008	South Africa v New Zealand	Rawalpindi
	16 September 2008	West Indies v India	Karachi
	17 September 2008	Pakistan v Australia	Rawalpindi
	18 September 2008	South Africa v Sri Lanka	Lahore
	19 September 2008	England v New Zealand	Rawalpindi
	20 September 2008	Pakistan v India	Lahore
	21 September 2008	Australia vs West Indies	Karachi
	21 September 2008	England v South Africa	Rawalpindi
Semi-final	24 September 2008	First Semi-final	Karachi
	25 September 2008	Second Semi-final	Rawalpindi
Final	28 September 2008	Final	Lahore

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