ICC Champions Trophy Winners History

ICC Champions Trophy Winners History

ICC Champions Trophy Winners

Champions Trophy, one of the most coveted cricket tournaments of the present times, has been played amongst the cricket-playing nations since the year 1998. The fight for the championship takes place every two years, with the matches being spread out over a two-week period. Initially called the Knock Out Tournament, its name was changed to ICC Champions Trophy in the year 2002 and it has been carried over ever since.

After the first Champions Trophy of 1998, then called ICC Knock Out Tournament, South Africa emerged as the winner, beating West Indies by four wickets, in a match that was played in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The latest Champions Trophy was held in the year 2006, with Australia being declared the winner. It beat West Indies by eight wickets, to win its first ever Champions Trophy.

In 2013 ICC Champions Trophy India beat host England by five runs. India and Australia won world second largest ODI tournament twise. As for the winners in the interim championships, the names have been listed below.

The commercial skills of an Indian businessman and his plans to globalize cricket saw the birth of the Mini World Cup in 1998. One of the first things that Jagmohan Dalmiya did after assuming the chairmanship of the ICC in 1997 was to improve its financial status. Dalmiya was already a successful man in this regard, having successfully organized the Reliance World Cup in India and Pakistan in 1987.

Inaugurated in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1998, the Champions Trophy was played every two years until 2009, switching to a round-robin format in 2002 (in Sri Lanka). Originally, all ten Full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) took part, together with (for the first four competitions) two Associate members. The 2013 event in England will feature the eight highest-ranked ODI teams calculated six months before the tournament.

The 2013 Champions Trophy will be the last time the tournament is played as the ICC moves towards having one championship for each of the game's three formats from 2015. The tournament is part of the Future Tours Program in 2013 but does not appear after that, with the play-offs for the World Test Championship scheduled for June 2017.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's former chief executive, had said: "We have said for a while that we would like one championship event for each format. We are including the Test championship in there. We have the World Cup to have the champion for 50-overs cricket. So we are not planning to hold Champions Trophy in the future."

A brief history about every championship:

1998 Mini World Cup (Bangladesh)

South African won the inaugural edition beating the West Indies in the final. The first tournament was called the Mini World Cup and was a roaring success because it was the first time the sub-continental minnows hosted such a grand cricket tournament. Dhaka hosted all the matches at the historic Bangabandhu Stadium. The tournament was intended to be held in a direct knock-out format for all the Test-playing countries of the time. There were 9 countries eligible which meant that 2 countries would play a qualifier knockout to determine the final 8 teams. New Zealand had to play Zimbabwe to qualify for the main draw. South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 92 runs (Duckworth Lewis method) while West Indies beat India by 6 wickets to make the final. Brilliant bowling (5 for 30) by Jacques Kallis and a 61 not out by Cronje helped South Africa defeat West Indies by four wickets. Burly opening batsman Philo Wallace scored a century for the West Indies.

2000 ICC Knockout Trophy (Kenya)

New Zealand won the championship beating India in the final played at the Nairobi Gymkhana ground. Since there were 11 teams taking part, a playoff stage (pre-quarterfinals) took place between 6 of the teams. India, Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa qualified for the semifinals. Pakistan lost to the Kiwis by four wickets while India defeated the Proteas by 95 runs to make the title-round. The final was memorable for two reasons. Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly smashed 117 to help India post 264 for six. But a limping Chris Cairns conquered pain and helped a hobbling (132 for five) New Zealand script a thrilling win with an unbeaten 102. The Kiwis won by four wickets with two balls to spare. This has been New Zealand's only triumph in an ICC tournament.

2002 ICC Champions Trophy (Sri Lanka)

The tournament was renamed the Champions Trophy this time. Twelve teams competed: the 10 Test-playing nations plus Netherlands and Kenya. The teams were split into four pools of three teams each. Each team played the other two teams in its pool once, and the four teams that lead in each pool proceeded to the semis. The final played at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo between India and Sri Lanka was washed out twice, to leave no result. For both nations, it was their first Champions Trophy victories.

Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka topped their respective groups. In the semifinals, India beat South Africa by 10 runs. Virender Sehwag was the Man of the Match for taking 3 for 25 off five overs. Sri Lanka thrashed Australia by seven wickets to storm into the final. Muralitharan took three for 26 in a low-scoring game. The final was washed out on successive days.

2004 Champions Trophy (England)

The 2004 ICC Champions Trophy was held in England in September 2004. Fifteen matches were played over 16 days and at three venues: Edgbaston (Birmingham), The Rose Bowl and The Oval. Twelve teams competed, including Kenya and the USA. The West Indies won the tournament beating England by two wickets at the Oval. Marcus Trescothick scored a century for England in the final, but it went in vain as Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored 47 off 66 balls to help the Caribbeans clinch an ICC trophy after several years.

2006 Champions Trophy (India)

The 2006 ICC Champions Trophy was held in India with the final on November 5, 2006. The venues for the tournament were Mohali, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Mumbai. A new format was used. Eight teams were competing in the group phase: the top six teams in the ICC ODI Championship on 1 April 2006, plus two teams chosen from the other four Test-playing teams Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, chosen from a pre-tournament round robin qualifying round. West Indies and Sri Lanka qualified ahead of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The eight teams were then split into two groups of four in a round robin competition. While Australia and West Indies qualified from Group A, South Africa and New Zealand qualified from Group B for the semifinals. Australia and West Indies reached the final defeating New Zealand and South Africa, respectively. In a low-scoring final at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, Australia beat West Indies by 8 wickets to win the trophy for the first time.

2009 Champions Trophy (South Africa)

The tournament was delayed by a year after several teams refused to travel to Pakistan, the original hosts, due to political instability. South Africa hosted the championship at Johannesburg and Centurion from September 24 to October 5. Two teams from two groups of four qualified for the semi-finals, and the final was staged in Centurion. Australia won the tournament undefeated, beating New Zealand by six wickets in the final. Man of the Match Shane Watson scored a century (105 not out) in the final. Ricky Ponting was the Man of the Series.

2013 ICC Champions Trophy (England)

The 2013 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in England and Wales between 6 and 23 June 2013. Three cities hosted the tournament's matches: London (at The Oval), Birmingham (at Edgbaston) and Cardiff (at the SWALEC Stadium, known as Cardiff Wales Stadium for the tournament).

India won the competition, beating England by five runs in the final after overcoming South Africa, the West Indies and Pakistan in the group stage, followed by a semi-final victory over Sri Lanka. As winners, India earned $2 million in prize money, the largest amount since the tournament's inception. It was the seventh and final ICC Champions Trophy, as it is due to be replaced by the ICC World Test Championship in 2017. However in January 2014, it was confirmed by the ICC that a Champions Trophy tournament will take place in 2017 and the proposed World Test Championship has been cancelled.

ICC Champions Trophy Winners

Year	Winner	Runner	Host	Format
1998	South Africa	West Indies	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Knockout
2000	New Zealand	India	Nairobi, Kenya	Knockout
2002	India and Sri Lanka (final was washed out)		Sri Lanka	Round Robin
2004	West Indies	England	England	Round Robin
2006	Australia	West Indies	India	Round Robin
2009	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa	Round Robin
2013	India	England	England	Round Robin