ICC Champions Trophy

The ICC Champions Trophy is a biennial tournament featuring the top ODI playing nations. Many describe the ICC Champions Trophy as the ‘mini World Cup’. Competing teams are divided into two groups of four, and the top two teams in each group progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.

Many cricket fans prefer the ICC Champions Trophy to the Cricket World Cup, as the tournament is devoid of the one-sided rubbers that make up the early stages of the World Cup. The strength versus strength format, and the shorter tournament duration of two weeks, make the ICC Champions Trophy the most exciting exhibition of One Day International cricket.

The 2008 ICC Champions Trophy will be hosted by Pakistan, with the final scheduled to be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

ICC Champions Trophy History

The first ICC Champions Trophy was played in 1998 as the ICC Knockout Cup. The original tournament followed a straightforward knockout format, with teams losing any match instantly eliminated. This format was used for the first two editions of the ICC Champions Trophy, before changes were introduced to extend the tournament and prevent teams from being knocked out after suffering a single defeat.

The ICC introduced a new format for the next tournament, with 12 teams competing in pool fixtures before the tournament entered its knockout rounds. This format was criticised for being too similar to the World Cup format, and 4 years later was amended again to ensure that only a small selection of the top-ranked ODI teams would qualify for the tournament.

ICC Champions Trophy Betting

The ICC Champions Trophy is a major sporting event and receives extensive coverage from all UK bookmakers. As the most open and competitive one day tournament in the world, the ICC Champions Trophy provides some good ante-post outright winner betting opportunities.

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ICC Champions Trophy Winners

The ICC Champions Trophy is one of the most open cricket tournaments played by the full members of the ICC. No team has yet managed to capture more than one ICC Champions Trophy winners title, with a different team winning each of the six ICC Champions Trophy tournaments played to date.

The West Indies have come closest to establishing any sort of dominance of the event, winning the ICC Champions Trophy once, and appearing in the final on another two occasions.