ICC Champions Trophy on tour in SA

Cape Town - The ICC Champions Trophy has arrived in South Africa ahead of its global tour before the start of the tournament in England in June.

According to the ICC website, the ICC Champions Trophy will visit 19 cities across all eight competing nations, allowing fans to get a close-up view of the prestigious silverware.

The Champions Trophy tour will begin in SA from April 4-12 and will be showcased in the city's of Johannesburg (Thursday, April 6 - Sandton), Durban (Saturday, April 8 - Gateway shopping centre) and Cape Town (TBA), before heading to Auckland, New Zealand.

Proteas wicketkeeper/batsman Quinton de Kock was in Sandton on Thursday to hold the elusive trophy and take pictures with Proteas supporters.

De Kock and his team-mates will be looking to end their 19-year silverware drought after winning the inaugural event in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 1998 when the tournament was then known as the ICC Knock-Out.

Earlier this week, former Proteas captain Graeme Smith said in an ICC column that he believes the Proteas have a good chance of winning despite their 'choker' tag, saying that he is "struggling to find a weak link as there are lots of quality options with the ball as well as with the bat".

"This isn't the first group of South African players to enter a tournament with that question (choker) over their head, but they couldn't hope for a better build-up in terms of going in to June with confidence high in the camp," said Smith.

The Proteas play England in three ODIs in May before the knockout tournament.

The ICC Champions Trophy will run from June 1-18 with the Proteas seeded third in Group B alongside India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Groups (based on teams' rankings as on September 30, 2015; x denotes seeding):

Group A

x-1 Australia             
x-4 New Zealand        
x-6 England               
x-7 Bangladesh 

Group B

x-2 India
x-3 South Africa
x-5 Sri Lanka
x-8 Pakistan

Proteas Champions Trophy event schedule:

Saturday, June 3 - Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval

Wednesday, June 7 - Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston

Sunday, June 11 - India v South Africa, The Oval

Wednesday, June 14 - First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff

Thursday, June15 - Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston

Sunday, June 18 - Final, The Oval

Monday, June 19 - Reserve day

Got to hang with @QuintonDekock12 ahead of the #CT17 @OfficialCSA #ChampionsTrophy pic.twitter.com/7JPVKfWLzp

— Echbert Boezak (@EchbertB) April 6, 2017

.@QuinnyDeKock69 is coming down soon to the #CT17 #NissanTrophyTour in Sandton City Mall, Johannesburg. @OfficialCSA fans, come on down! pic.twitter.com/7y2ZQgKRrp

— ICC (@ICC) April 6, 2017