ICC announce fresh Champions Trophy dates

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday the Champions Trophy would be held from Sept. 24 to Oct. 5 next year after the September event in Pakistan was postponed due to security concerns.

The eight-team tournament would be held in a single city after being cut by five days to 12, including a reserve day for the final, the ICC said in a statement.

The decision was taken by its executive board which ended a two-day conference at its headquarters in Dubai.

"The ICC board will make a final decision on the location of the event following India's tour to Pakistan in the first part of 2009 so that it can provide certainty to teams, broadcasters, commercial partners and other stakeholders," it added.

The Champions Trophy was postponed after five of eight nations due to take part confirmed they would not send a team because of player safety issues -- caused by a series of suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan over the past year.

"We are delighted to have slotted the Champions Trophy into the FTP in 2009 thus maintaining the primacy of ICC events, and we now look forward to staging an outstanding, memorable event next September/October," ICC president David Morgan said.

Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat thanked members for helping find a slot in the calendar for the event regarded as second in importance only to the one-day World Cup.

"The tournament, with its new format of the top eight teams playing in a short, sharp event, is vitally important for the world game because it allows those members, as well as the developing cricket world, to grow the sport," he said.