LONDON: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) have announced that The Oval, Edgbaston and Hampshire's Rosebowl will stage the 15-match ICC Champions Trophy. The event which takes place in September 2004 will air on MAX.
 

The ICC Champions Trophy will run from 10 - 25 September with rain days scheduled for all matches. Teams will be seeded for the tournament on the basis of their official ICC One-Day International ranking on 1 December 2003. ICC chief executive, Malcolm Speed, said "The ICC is very pleased that the ECB will be hosting this showpiece tournament next year. Using the official ODI ratings is the fairest way to seed teams. This system ensures that all teams are treated in an equal manner as it provides an objective assessment of form over the last two to three years."

The format of the competition divides competing teams into four groups of three, with the winners of each group progressing to straight knockout semi-finals and final. The tournament has a total prize fund of $1.25 million with $400,000 for the winners of the final. This is an increase of $100,000 from the last time the tournament was held in Sri Lanka last year.