A tournament that could not be finished
The third edition was the first to carry the Champions Trophy name and the first to use pools rather than a straight knockout. It was also the only ICC tournament to end without a winner being separated on the field.
It should have been played in India. The ICC required a tax exemption on tournament revenue, the Indian government would not grant one, and the event was moved to Sri Lanka in March 2002 with six months to arrange it. Colombo took every match, split between the R. Premadasa Stadium and the smaller Sinhalese Sports Club Ground. September in Colombo sits at the tail of the south-west monsoon, which turned out to matter a great deal.
The pools
Twelve teams were divided into four pools of three: the ten Test nations plus Kenya, who held ODI status, and the Netherlands, who had won the 2001 ICC Trophy. Each side played two matches and only the pool winner went through, a structure that gave the weaker teams a guaranteed fixture but gave the stronger ones almost no margin for error.
Sri Lanka opened the tournament by beating Pakistan by eight wickets, Jayasuriya making a hundred and passing 8,000 ODI runs, and then dismantled the Netherlands. Australia beat New Zealand by 164 runs, McGrath taking 5 for 37, and then Bangladesh by nine wickets. South Africa beat West Indies by two wickets and Kenya by 176. India, who had needed to hold off Zimbabwe by 14 runs in their first match, beat England by eight wickets with Sehwag making 126.
Both semi-finals were low-scoring. India defended 261 against South Africa, winning by 10 runs. Sri Lanka bowled Australia out for 162 and chased it with ten overs in hand, Aravinda de Silva taking three wickets in what was close to the end of his international career.
Two washouts
The final on 29 September went as far as Sri Lanka's 244 for 5 and two overs of India's reply before heavy rain ended it. The match was replayed in full on the reserve day. Sri Lanka batted first again, making 222 for 7, Mahela Jayawardene scoring 77. India were 38 for 1 after 8.4 overs when the rain returned and did not stop.
Under the playing conditions a one-day international is only a match once 25 overs have been bowled to the side batting second. Neither attempt came close. There was no provision for a third day and no bowl-out or similar tie-break in the regulations, so the ICC declared India and Sri Lanka joint champions. No man-of-the-match award was made for either final and no player of the tournament was named at all.
Sri Lanka thus became the only host nation to win the competition, and India collected the first of what would become three titles in the oddest possible way. The ICC subsequently reduced the number of teams and lengthened the knockout stage, and no later final has been left undecided.