England will take on New Zealand in the first of four fixtures to be played in Cardiff in next year\'s ICC Champions Trophy with the fixture schedule and dates confirmed today, exactly one year to the day when the tournament begins.
The world’s top eight teams go head to head in the 18-day, 15 match-tournament with games played in Cardiff, Edgbaston and at the Oval. Hosts England are in Pool A, the same group as Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh, they will face the latter in the tournament opener on 1st June 2017, five days before their trip to Cardiff Wales Stadium to play New Zealand (June 6th).
New Zealand will play a second match in Cardiff against Bangladesh on Friday 9th June, whilst Sri Lanka and Pakistan who both play One-Day Internationals in Cardiff against England this year, will meet each other in a pool stage clash at the Cardiff Wales Stadium on 12th June. Defending champion India is seeded second and leads Group B, which along with Sri Lanka and Pakistan also comprises third seed South Africa. The Welsh capital will stage the first semi-final with the winner of Pool A facing Pool B runner-up on 14th June, as the top two sides from each group progress to the knockout stage. Edgbaston will also host a semi-final, with The Oval hosting the final on June 18th.
The ticketing window will open on Thursday 1 September, 2016 and close on 30 September and the oversubscribed matches will go to a ballot. Members of Glamorgan CCC will have an advanced opportunity to access tickets.
Reacting to the schedule Chief Executive Hugh Morris said, "We are delighted to be welcoming some of the world's best players to the Welsh capital for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. I was with England for the last tournament here, and for teams, administrators and supporters alike the compact nature of the competition, where every match is intense and really counts captured the imagination of thousands of supporters who came to watch.
"This short and sharp event featuring cricket’s elite is now firmly back on the international cricket calendar and carries even greater significance given the qualification for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, for which we will also play a host role.
"By hosting major global events such as the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Cricket World Cup two years later, the eyes of the world will be on Cardiff."
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said, “The announcement of the ICC Champions Trophy schedule 12 months before the start of the event will provide sufficient time to all the eight sides to plan for the tournament and arrive in England and Wales fully prepared and geared up so that they can collect enough points to directly qualify for the 2019 extravaganza.
“The ICC Champions Trophy will also be the first of three events the England and Wales Cricket Board will be hosting until 2019. Immediately after the ICC Champions Trophy, the ICC Women’s World Cup will be staged while the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, the pinnacle 50-over format, will be held in 2019.
“These three competitions will provide the culturally diverse society of the United Kingdom as well as traveling fans from across the globe an opportunity to watch live action and follow their favourite players and sides.”
England hosts the event for the third time, having made the final on the two previous occasions it has hosted the tournaments. In 2004, it narrowly lost the final to the West Indies at The Oval by two wickets, while it suffered a five-run defeat at Edgbaston in the 2013 final against India in a rain-affected game.
Previous winners
*1998 – South Africa bt West Indies by 4 wickets (Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh)
*2000 – New Zealand bt India by 4 wickets (Gymkhana Club, Nairobi, Kenya)
2002 – India/Sri Lanka joint champions - match abandoned (R Premadasa Stadium Colombo, Sri Lanka)
2004 – West Indies bt England by 2 wickets (The Oval, London)
2006 – Australia bt India by 8 wickets (Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai,)
2009 – Australia bt New Zealand by 6 wickets (Centurion, S Africa)
2013 - India bt England by 5 runs (Edgbaston, Birmingham, England)
*The ICC Champions Trophy in 1998 and 2000 was known as the ICC Knock-Out
Groups (based on teams’ rankings as on 30 September 2015; x denotes seeding)
Group A Group B
x-1 Australia x-2 India
x-4 New Zealand x-3 South Africa
x-6 England x-5 Sri Lanka
x-7 Bangladesh x-8 Pakistan
Tournament schedule:
Thurs, 1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (d)
Fri, 2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (d)
Sat, 3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (d)
Sun, 4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (d)
Mon, 5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (d/n)
Tues, 6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (d)
Wed, 7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (d/n)
Thurs, 8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (d)
Fri, 9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (d)
Sat, 10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (d)
Sun, 11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (d)
Mon, 12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (d)
Wed, 14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (d)
Thurs, 15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (d)
Sun, 18 June – Final, The Oval (d)
Mon, 19 June – Reserve day (d)
Tickets for both of this year’s Royal London One-Day Internationals at The SSE SWALEC, Cardiff are still available. Secure your seats as England face Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the fifth and final games of each ODI Series at glamorgancricket.com
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