European Development Programme representatives, Holland, have been pooled with Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the first stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. 2003 World Cup host South Africa will play the West Indies in the opening match, when the teams meet in Colombo on Thursday, 12th September. Each of the 12 competing nations will play two games in the Pool stage of the tournament, between the 12th and 23rd September. The semi finals will take place on Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th, with the final scheduled for Sunday 29th September. The full match schedule announced by the ICC today, is as follows:

1    Thursday 12th September	South Africa v West Indies	

2    Friday 13th September	Sri Lanka v Pakistan		

3    Saturday 14th September	India v Zimbabwe	
	

4    Sunday 15th September	Australia v New Zealand	

5    Monday 16th September	West Indies v Kenya		

6    Tuesday 17th September	Sri Lanka v Holland		

7    Wednesday 18th September	England v Zimbabwe	
    

8    Thursday 19th September	Australia v Bangladesh	  

9    Friday 20th September 	South Africa v Kenya 		

10   Saturday 21st September	Pakistan v Holland	
	

11   Sunday 22nd September	England v India		
    

12   Monday 23rd September	New Zealand v Bangladesh	     

Tuesday 24th September	REST DAY
             

13   Wednesday 25th September	SEMI FINAL 1			

				Winner Pool 2	v Winner Pool 3

Thursday 26th September	        RESERVE DAY - SEMI FINAL 1

14    Friday 27th September	SEMI FINAL 2		

				Winner Pool 1	 v Winner Pool 4

Saturday 28th September		RESERVE DAY - SEMI FINAL 2

15    Sunday 29th September	FINAL			

				Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

Monday 30th September		RESERVE DAY - FINAL

Teams have been pooled into four groups and ranked on their final position in the 2000 ICC Knockout, held in Nairobi, Kenya, where New Zealand beat India in a thrilling final. The Champions Trophy Pool allocations are:

Pool 1		Pool 2		Pool 3		Pool 4
Australia	England		Kenya		Holland	
Bangladesh	India		South Africa	Pakistan
New Zealand	Zimbabwe	West Indies	Sri Lanka

Two venues in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo will be utilised for the tournament. These will be confirmed in the near future, together with a decision on the use of day/night matches.