2009 ICC Champions Trophy
 |
|
| Administrator(s) | International Cricket Council |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | One Day International |
| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin |
| Host(s) |
 South Africa
|
| Champions |
 Australia (2nd title) |
| Participants | 8 |
| Matches played | 15 |
| Player of the series |
Ricky Ponting
|
| Most runs |
Ricky Ponting (288) |
| Most wickets |
Wayne Parnell (11) |
The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in South Africa between 22 September and 5 October, at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park, both in the Gauteng province. It was the sixth ICC Champions Trophy, and was previously known as the ICC Knock-out. Two teams from two groups of four qualified for the semi-finals, and the final was staged in Centurion on 5 October. Australia successfully defended the title by beating New Zealand by six wickets in the final.
The Champions Trophy was the brainchild of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was ICC president in the late 1990s. It had a dual aim of spreading the game to emerging nations and raising money for the ICC in between World Cups, thus enabling it to pump more cash into those fledgling cricket countries. The first tournament, labelled as a mini World Cup, was staged in Dhaka in October 1998 and raised more than £10 million. The second, in Nairobi, was a commercial success although the crowds stayed away. By the time the 2002 event was held – and there was disquiet as it was so close to the World Cup five months later – the idea of playing in developing nations had been ditched and as revenue-generation was the main raison d'etre, it needed to be in one of the main countries as this allowed the format to be expanded. In 2004 the jamboree moved to England and it became clear the format of group games led to too many meaningless games. By the time the 2006 tournament in India came into view, the event was under fire from some quarters, and at one time there were even hints that India might decline to take part in 2008.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan between 11 and 28 September 2008. The ICC postponed the tournament due to security fears expressed by several participating countries; many countries did not want to play in Pakistan after an attack on the Sri Lankan team by militants. On 24 July 2008, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the tournament would take place in Pakistan after all despite players from Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand raising concerns over touring the country. On 22 August 2009, South Africa announced that it would not take part in the Champions Trophy due to security concerns. Two days later, on 24 August 2008, after speculation that the tournament would be held elsewhere (England, Sri Lanka, or South Africa), the ICC announced that the tournament would be postponed until October 2009.
...
Wikipedia