Calcutta: The ICC board members decided on Wednesday, the second day of their meeting in Dubai, that the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy will be held between September 24 and October 5.

It was further agreed that the tournament will be played in a single city since the event has been shortened from the stipulated 17 days set aside in 2008 to 12 days including a reserve day for the final.

Following the postponement of the event from Pakistan this year due to security concerns, the ICC mulled the option of slotting the Champions Trophy into 2009’s Future Tours Programme (FTP).

According to an ICC release, cricket’s governing body will zero in on the location for the Champions Trophy after India’s tour to Pakistan in the first half of 2009, so that teams, broadcasters, commercial partners and stakeholders can be provided certainty.

ICC president David Morgan said, “We are delighted to have slotted the ICC Champions Trophy into the FTP in 2009 thus maintaining the primacy of ICC events, and we now look forward to staging an outstanding, memorable event next September/October.”

He added, “The Champions Trophy is part of a host of great ICC tournaments taking place next year, including the ICC Women’s World Cup, the ICC World Cup Qualifier and the ICC World Twenty20 for both men and women.

Chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: “I’m hugely encouraged by the spirit of togetherness and teamwork shown by our members in ensuring we have found a place for the Champions Trophy in next year’s calendar.

“The tournament, with its new format of the top eight teams playing in a short, sharp event, is vitally important for the world game because it allows those members, as well as the developing cricket world, to grow the sport.”