ICC confirms World Cup 2007 groupings

England will play New Zealand and Kenya in the group stages of the World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007. The defending champions Australia will face South Africa, while second-ranked Sri Lanka are grouped with India and Bangladesh. West Indies and Pakistan should be the crunch match in the final group.

The draw was based on world rankings, although Australia, England, India and West Indies had already been pre-seeded into separate groups in July 2004 because of logistical concerns: those countries have the largest amounts of fans likely to travel to watch matches.

The World Cup will involve 16 teams for the first time, which includes the 11 teams with one-day international status. The remaining five teams will be decided by the ICC Trophy to be held in Ireland later this year: the top five will be rewarded with a place at the World Cup.

The 16 teams at the World Cup will be split into four groups of four for a round robin first stage. The top two teams will progress to the Super Eights stage, a round which has been expanded from what was the Super Sixes.

Groups and rankings
Group 1 - St Kitts & Nevis Australia (1) South Africa (5) ICC Trophy qualifiers

Group 2 - Trinidad & Tobago Sri Lanka (2) India (8) Bangladesh (11) ICC Trophy qualifier

Group 3 - St Lucia New Zealand (3) England (7) Kenya (10) ICC Trophy qualifier

Group 4 (Jamaica) Pakistan (4) West Indies (6) Zimbabwe (9) ICC Trophy qualifier