ICC may abolish Champions Trophy

The Champions Trophy could go the way of the dodo as part of the ICC's push to reorganise the global cricket calendar. The next edition of the tournament is supposed to be held in 2013, but Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said they were looking to have just one primary tournament in each of the three formats of the game

"What we're trying to work towards is a pinnacle event in each format," Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive said at a press conference in Chennai. "So if we're looking to our next cycle, we might think definitely about [losing] the Champions Trophy."

Another potential problem for the tournament is fitting it into the new Future Tours Program. In October, the ICC approved the creation of a league-style Test Championship and redrew the lines of one-day cricket as part of an extensive restructuring of the international game. The first play-off in the newly constituted Test Championship is now scheduled to be held in 2013, the same year as the next Champions Trophy.

A one-day cricket league - mirroring the existing team rankings - will also be part of the FTP, starting in April 2011 and running over four years to culminate in the crowning of the first ODI league champion in April 2014. The league will run separately from the World Cup, further crowding the calendar.

The Champions Trophy was first played in 1998 and has typically been held every two years since. The first two tournaments were intended to raise the profile of the game in the host nations, Bangladesh and Kenya. Australia won the last tournament in 2009