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World champions Australia and hosts India were paired in the same group for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy one-day tournament, which gets underway in October.

England were also included in Group A with the four-team pool to be completed with the side that finishes second following the outcome of a preliminary tournament featuring West Indies. Group B features South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand and the top team from the qualifying event.

Teams have been seeded according to their position in the ICC’s one-day rankings on April 1. Australia were in the first place. West Indies, who beat then hosts England by two to win the last edition of the biennial Champions Trophy competition at The Oval in 2004, were ranked eighth on April 1.

That means they will have to finish in the first two from a series of round-robin matches in India against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh if they are to have a chance of defending their title.

The ICC said it hoped a full tournament schedule would be announced later this month. However, it did confirm the top two sides from each group would go forward to the semifinals with the final on November 5 at an as yet unnamed venue.

Source: The News

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