da blaze casino： England and India will host the next two ICC Champions Trophy’s, accordingto Malcom Speed, Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC)
da dobrowin： Charlie Austin23-Jul-2002England and India will host the next two ICC Champions Trophy’s, accordingto Malcom Speed, Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC).Speed, speaking at the launch of the ICC Champions Trophy 2002, which is tobe staged in Sri Lanka, confirmed that England would be the hosting countryin 2004, with India holding it in 2006.This year’s ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knockout, whichwill be the third of its kind after earlier tournaments in Bangladesh 1998and Kenya 2000.Both those tournaments were straight knockout events – this time the tenTest nations plus Holland and Kenya will be spilt into four groups of threewith each team guaranteed a minimum of three games.The winner of each group will progress straight into the semi-finals.There will be 15 games in just 18 days with all the matches being played atColombo’s two premier venues: Sinhalese Sports Club and PremadasaInternational Stadium.Sri Lanka and Pakistan will kick off the tournament when they take on eachother under lights on September 12.”Every Test playing country is committed to sending their strongest teams tothe ICC Champions Trophy and this gives Sri Lankan fans the chance to seetheir hometown heroes take on the best players in the world,” said Speed.This year’s tournament will also see the wider use of technology, withumpires able to refer all decisions, including lbw appeals, to thetelevision umpire.The ICC are using the event as an experiment, trying to ascertain whether agreater use of technology will improve decision making without undulyslowing the game.”The ICC is going about it with an open mind,” said Speed. “We don’t want tomake the umpires robots, but are offering them the best use of technology toassist them in their decision making. Everyone wants to see that the rightdecisions are made. If it is not successful we will discontinue it.”The ICC hopes that all television decisions will be made within 20 seconds.The ICC Champions Trophy plays a pivotal role in the development of the gameby raising funds through the sale of media and sponsorship rights.The last tournament in Kenya raised US $ 13 million and the ICC areconfidant this will be surpassed this year, providing valuable funds for theglobalisation of the game.
