Champions Trophy decision deferred

The ICC has deferred its decision on the postponed Champions Trophy dates

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The International Cricket Council has deferred a decision on the new dates for the postponed ICC Champions Trophy after agreement could not be reached at today’s executive meeting.

The Champions Trophy, which was scheduled to be held in Pakistan between September 12 and 28, was postponed to October 2009 due to security concerns.

But with India scheduled to play Australia in a seven-match one-day series and with the second edition of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament to take place from September 25 to October 11, the ICC are now finding it tough to make room in the calendar for the tournament.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has refused to re-schedule its series with Australia to accommodate the Champions Trophy.

"It was agreed by the ICC Board that the chief executive Haroon Lorgat would engage with member boards likely to be affected by the rescheduling of the tournament to September or October 2009," an ICC press release stated.

The ICC will now take a decision at a board meeting in October.

The ICC have also decided to extend trials for the umpire referral system, which was put to the test in India's recently-completed Test series against Sri Lanka.

The system was welcomed by Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, but Indian skipper Anil Kumble felt more trials would be necessary before the system could be fully implemented.

"It was agreed that the ideal would be for as many umpires and teams as possible to be exposed to the trial to allow proper assessment of the system's merits or otherwise," the ICC said.

In addition, the ICC also revealed it would consider an alternative structure for bilateral tours to the current Future Tours Programme which concludes in May 2012.