ICC Champions Trophy: A flashback of the tournament

South Africa’s one and only major ICC tournament trophy

After the unprecedented success of the ODI World Cup, the International Cricket Council planned to come up with its sister tournament in 1998 - the ICC knockout ODI tournament. All the cricketing nations under the ICC participated in the tournament, which was to be played once every 2 years. 

Three years down the line, the tournament was renamed to the Champions Trophy in 2002. In 2009, due to strenuous schedule of the teams, the ICC announced that only eight top teams of the World would compete in the prestigious 50-overs tournament.

In 2013, news had it that that edition of the Champions Trophy would be the last one, and that it would be swapped by an ICC World Test Championship. However, due to the lopsided interest from fans in Test cricket and ODI, the former was deemed more suitable for the audience.

With the 8th edition of the tournament already upon us, here's a brief history of how the tourney panned out from 1998 to 2013.

---

ICC KnockOut Trophy 1998

Kallis was named man of the tournament for his impressive performances

Called the Wills International Cup back in the day, the tournament was held in Bangladesh with an aim to popularise the sport in the country. All nine of the then-test playing nations took part in the tourney, with New Zealand and Zimbabwe fighting it out in a preliminary quarterfinal for a place in the main draw.

In what turned out to be a belter of an opening match of the tournament, the Blackcaps managed to trump the African team by five wickets, scoring the winning runs off the last delivery of the match. 

The knockout format of the tournament made it all the more exhilarating, with teams fully aware that a slip here or there will lead to their ousting. With that in mind, next day, South Africa and England locked horns. Both the teams had never won an ICC tournament prior to this, and courtesy of half-centuries from Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes the Proteas kept their dreams alive.

Muttiah Muralitharan then made NZ dance on his tunes in the next fixture, which saw the Kiwis bundle out for 188, which Sri Lanka, then then-world champions, chased with five wickets to spare. The third quarterfinal saw India taking on Australia, who were once again taken apart by Sachin Tendulkar, six months after the Sharjah debacle. Men in Blue posted 307 on the board, courtesy a scintillating century from the Little Master.

Australia succumbed to the scoreboard pressure and could only manage 263 to bow out of the tournament. West Indies then trumped Pakistan in the last quarterfinal to set up a last-four clash with India as South Africa played Sri Lanka in the other semifinal.

In what was a rain-curtailed encounter, Jacques Kallis came to life and scored a blistering century to powered South Africa to 240 in 39 overs. Steve Elworthy and Pat Symcox then bagged three wickets each to bowl Sri Lanka out on 132 and help the Proteas reach their first ever ICC-tournament final.

In the other semifinal, Mervyn Dillon made sure India do not run away like they did in their previous encounter. On the back of Sourav Ganguly’s 83, the Men in Blue posted 240 on the board, which the Caribbean outfit chased down with six wickets and three overs to spare, setting up a final with South Africa.

The final saw Philo Wallace bang a century, but none of his West Indian teammates was able to lend him a helping hand and they could only manage a paltry 245. The skipper, Cronje came to life with the bat yet again and helped his side chase down the target in 47 overs which saw the Proteas winning an ICC tournament for the first time.

However, the hero of the final was the 23-year-old Kallis, picking up five wickets and scoring 37 runs.

What everyone thought would be a first of many tournament-wins for the African side, turned out to be the only feather in their cap thus far.

Leading run-scorer: Philo Wallace (221 runs)

Leading wicket-taker: Jacques Kallis (8 wickets)