Match officials for the Champions Trophy 2017 semi-finals announced

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the match official appointments for the semi-final stage of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. The first semi-final will be played between hosts England who finished at the top of Group A and Pakistan who were the second team to qualify from Group B. The venue for the match is Cardiff Wales Stadium in Cardiff and will be played on Wednesday, 14 June.

Edgbaston in Birmingham will be the in the spotlight for the second semi-final where Team India the table toppers from Group B will take on the second spot holder from Group A Bangladesh the contest is scheduled for 15 June, Thursday.

The match official appointments for the two knockout games are as follows:

14 June – England v Pakistan (10h30), Cardiff Wales Stadium – Marais Erasmus and Rod Tucker (on-field), Chris Gaffaney (third umpire), Bruce Oxenford (fourth umpire), Andy Pycroft (match referee)

15 June – India v Bangladesh (10h30), Edgbaston – Richard Kettleborough and Kumar Dharmasena (on-field), Nigel Llong (third umpire), Richard Illingworth (fourth umpire), Chris Broad (match referee).

Appointments for the final of the tournament scheduled for 18th June will be made in due course.

Semi-final 1

England are coming unbeaten into the semi-final having beaten Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia by convincing margins. The hosts are the favourites to win the tournament which will be their first Champions Trophy title. They will face Pakistan in the semis; the team that is known and has proved their unpredictability multiple times in the past. Even their qualification was possible after a drama filled virtual quarter-final against Sri Lanka.

Semi-final 2

Team India will take on the resurgent Bangladeshi team in the second semi. This is the first time the Tigers have made it to the knockout stages of the Champions Trophy while the Men in Blue are the defending champions. India beat Pakistan convincingly but lost to Sri Lanka in the second match to make the last league game against South Africa a must-win. They sailed over the Proteas without much ado and that will give them the confidence going into the semis.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, needed rain and England’s help to make it thus far. It was Australia’s bad luck that two of their three games were washed out while the other which was also determined by D/L went England’s way. Mashrafe Mortaza & Co. will have to play out of their skins to stun India who have been thoroughly professional in all three formats of the game.