ECB and ICC announce ICC Champions Trophy venues

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that The Oval, Edgbaston and Hampshire's Rose Bowl will stage the 15-match ICC Champions Trophy during September 2004.

The ICC Champions Trophy will run from 10th to 25th September, with rain days scheduled for all matches. Teams will be seeded for the tournament on the basis of their official ICC one-day international ranking on 1 December 2003.

ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said: "The ICC is very pleased that the ECB will be hosting this showpiece tournament next year. Using the official ODI ratings is the fairest way to seed teams. This system ensures that all teams are treated in an equal manner as it provides an objective assessment of form over the last two to three years."

The showcase event for the talents of the world's leading one-day cricketers will be contested by the ten ICC Full Member countries and Kenya plus the winner of the ICC Six Nations Challenge to be held in the United Arab Emirates in March 2004.

ECB Chief Executive, Tim Lamb, said: "The ECB is looking forward to welcoming the world's top teams here next year and the ICC Champions Trophy will provide a terrific climax to our summer of international cricket throughout England and Wales in 2004."

The format of the competition divides competing teams into four groups of three, with the winners of each group progressing to straight knockout semi-finals and final.

The tournament has a total prize fund of $US 1.25 million with $US 400,000 for the winners of the final; an increase of $US 100,000 from the last time the tournament was held in Sri Lanka in 2002.

The status of the three venues as hosts for the Champions Trophy is subject to the completion of the Host Agreement between IDI and ECB and the Host Venue Agreements between the three domestic venues and the ECB.

A tournament schedule and ticketing arrangements will be made available once the groupings have been finalised in early December 2003.

Groupings will be based on ICC ODI Championship standings on 1 December 2003 as follows:

Pool 1 - 1, 8, Qualifier

Pool 2 - 2, 7, 11

Pool 3 - 3, 6, 10

Pool 4 - 4, 5, 9