Latest news with #TheChampionsTrophy
Int'l Cricket Council
28-02-2025
- Sport
- Int'l Cricket Council
South Africa eyes Champions Trophy semi-finals in clash against England: Match Preview
The Champions Trophy is certainly nearing the business end. And with just one semi-finals spot up for grabs. South Africa and Afghanistan are still in contention. Afghanistan sharing points with Australia after their game was washed out on Friday means they are still in the race for the final four. However, South Africa still hold the advantage with a game in hand and a higher Net Run Rate (NRR). A win against England will be enough to seal the deal for the Proteas. However, their opponents will also be eyeing to close the tournament with a win. Having lost to Australia and Afghanistan, England arrive into their final group stage fixture on the back of skipper Jos Buttler having stepped down as white-ball captain. Here's how the two teams line up for the meeting: WATCH: All On The Line | South Africa vs England | Champions Trophy 2025
Al Jazeera
25-02-2025
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
Australia vs South Africa Champions Trophy match abandoned due to rain
The Champions Trophy Group B fixture between Australia and South Africa in Rawalpindi has been abandoned without a ball being bowled after persistent rain kept the players from the field. The match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in the northern Pakistani city was called off at 5:10pm local time (12:10 GMT), over five hours after the scheduled start time on Tuesday. Light rain through the day left pools of water on the covers and the outfield, making the prospect of play impossible. A handful of spectators with South African and Australian flags waited anxiously for the start of the match but had to leave without watching any action. South Africa top the pool on net run-rate from Australia with both teams on three points after winning their opening fixtures against Afghanistan and England respectively. The latter two meet in Lahore on Wednesday, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals. The last set of fixtures will see Afghanistan take on Australia on Friday, while South Africa will play England on Saturday.
Daily Tribune
18-02-2025
- Sport
- Daily Tribune
Champions Trophy set for liftoff
The Champions Trophy begins Wednesday after a turbulent build-up that saw the tournament split between Pakistan and Dubai, and with England facing calls to boycott their match against Afghanistan. The event, regarded as second only to the World Cup in the one-day game, runs until March 9 and is the first global cricket tournament hosted by Pakistan in nearly three decades. India's matches will however be played in the United Arab Emirates after the sport's financial superpower refused to visit their neighbour over long-standing political tensions. A month-long impasse ended in December when the International Cricket Council said that India would play their games in Dubai. It raises the prospect of the final of the eight-nation showpiece taking place there, rather than in Pakistan, if India get that far -- a good chance given they are favourites to lift the trophy. Arch-rivals India and Pakistan, who only face off in international competitions because of the politics, clash in Dubai on February 23 in the group phase. England play Afghanistan three days later in Lahore in a match that has been met with a backlash in some quarters in Britain. More than 160 British politicians called for a boycott in response to the Taliban government's ban on women in sport. England Cricket Board chairman Richard Thompson vowed the match would go ahead, saying a 'coordinated international response' by the cricket community would achieve more than unilateral action. The Champions Trophy will be Pakistan's first ICC event since co-hosting the 1996 World Cup with India and Sri Lanka. Karachi and Rawalpindi are the other Pakistani cities that will stage games. Pakistan became a no-go area for foreign teams after the visiting Sri Lankan squad were attacked by gunmen in 2009, leaving eight people dead and wounding several touring players. But with improved security across most of the country, international cricket returned to Pakistan in 2020. India favourites India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh form Group A while Australia, England, Afghanistan and South Africa are in Group B. Two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals in Dubai and Lahore. Pakistan are reigning champions, having defeated India in the final in 2017 at The Oval in London. But it is two-time winners India who are favourites, with superstar batsman Virat Kohli hoping to overcome a poor run of form by his sky-high standards. It could be the 36-year-old's last hurrah on the international stage, with captain Rohit Sharma also likely to retire after the tournament. 'India is playing superb allround cricket and so are among the favourites for the Champions Trophy,' former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar told AFP. 'The other teams, in my opinion, to watch out for are defending champions Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa.' India will however be missing ace pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Australia beat hosts India to win the one-day World Cup in 2023 but they are missing several key players. Their formidable pace attack of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are all out. Coupled with the sudden retirement from ODIs of Marcus Stoinis and injury to Mitchell Marsh -- both key all-rounders -- and Australia suddenly look vulnerable. They were well beaten 2-0 in Sri Lanka in a two-match series last week. Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the Champions Trophy. Pakistan will open the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy with a match against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday. The co-hosts are unpredictable, as they showed in the last edition of the tournament, losing to India by 124 runs in the opening match before winning the final against them by 180 runs. England go into the competition under a cloud, having been outclassed by India in both a T20 and one-day series in the lead-up.
Al Jazeera
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Pakistan's ‘punishment' ends as cricket is back
Cricket fans in Pakistan are buzzing ahead of the International Cricket Council's (ICC's) Champions Trophy, and hosting the elite one-day international tournament will rekindle the country's love affair with the sport, three former captains say. The event, which features the sport's top eight sides in the ODI format, begins on Wednesday with the hosts up against New Zealand in Karachi. It will be the first major global tournament hosted by Pakistan in nearly 30 years, and former batting great Inzamam-ul-Haq told the Reuters news agency there is no escaping the excitement in the lead-up to the event. 'Right now, everyone is talking about the Champions Trophy – in schools, houses, markets, offices, everywhere,' he said. Pakistan spent nearly a decade in the wilderness after gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Lahore in 2009, wounding six players. Top teams shunned Pakistan after the attack, and it took the Pakistan Cricket Board years to persuade their foreign counterparts that it was safe to visit. 'The events of 2009 feel like a bad dream,' Inzamam said. 'We were punished for 10 years. Our cricket went backwards.' The national team, captained for the bulk of those years by Misbah-ul-Haq, hosted its 'home' games in the United Arab Emirates and remained relatively successful. Fixtures then began trickling back onto Pakistani soil in 2018. 'For fans and young cricketers to see the stars playing live is a big deal,' said Misbah, Pakistan's most successful Test captain. 'Not having that meant the whole cricket machinery was jammed.' Former captain Aamer Sohail said the connection between fans and players was evident at Wednesday's warm-up game against South Africa when Pakistan reeled in the visitors' 352 to complete their highest successful ODI run chase. 'What was heartening in the game is that people turned up, and then the players turned up. It was kind of reciprocating, wasn't it?' Sohail added The Champions Trophy was discontinued by the ICC after the eighth edition in 2017 when Sarfaraz Ahmed's Pakistan beat India in the final. Should both teams reach the title decider this year, Pakistan will not have the advantage of playing at home because India are playing all their matches at this edition in Dubai due to political tensions. 'A Pakistan-India match is not just a game of cricket – it's a game of expectations, of emotions,' Misbah said. Inzamam recalled a 2004 ODI against India in Karachi, where he scored a thrilling hundred in a losing chase. 'I got a standing ovation, but so did the Indian team for their performance,' he said. 'Supporters from both sides would have wanted to see this match.' Sohail will forever be remembered for one of the most famous on-field spats with Indian bowler Venkatesh Prasad in the 1996 World Cup quarterfinals, the last major event played in Pakistan. 'It's not just important for both the countries. I think this rivalry is important for international cricket,' he said.
Al Jazeera
14-02-2025
- Sport
- Al Jazeera
ICC Champions Trophy: Prize pot to climb to $6.9m
The Champions Trophy prize pot will increase to $6.9m this year, a jump of 53% from 2017, with the winners receiving $2.24m, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Friday. Holders Pakistan will host an ICC showpiece event for the first time in 28 years. The eight-team quadrennial One-Day International (ODI) tournament kicks off on February 19 in Karachi and the final will be held on March 9. There will be 15 matches across Pakistan and Dubai, after India refused to travel to rivals Pakistan, instead agreeing to play their matches in the neutral Gulf city. The runners-up will get $1.12m, and the losing semifinalists will be awarded $560,000 each. Teams that finished fifth or sixth will each earn $350,000 while the seventh and eighth-placed sides take home $140,000. The 2021 edition of the Champions Trophy was scrapped by the ICC in 2016, which wanted only one major tournament in each of the sport's three international formats, prioritising the 50-over World Cup. The decision was reversed in late 2021. The 2023 edition of the quadrennial 10-team ODI World Cup, won by Australia after they beat India in Gujarat, featured a larger number of group-stage and knockout matches and offered a $4m prize for the winning team from a pot of $10m. Pakistan beat Australia in the final at Lord's in London, United Kingdom, to claim the trophy when the tournament was last staged in 2017.
