ICC announce date for World Cup rankings

[Rangeela]

England will be grouped with Kenya and either Sri Lanka or New Zealand in Pool 3 in the first round of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. The final groupings will be determined by the rankings of the teams on April 1, and there are two series to be concluded before then: Australia play New Zealand and South Africa face Zimbabwe.

Sri Lanka will be in England's pool unless Australia whitewash New Zealand in the current five-match series which they lead 2-0. But Australia, the reigning World Champions, will be grouped with South Africa regardless of the result of South Africa's series with Zimbabwe which starts this week. South Africa, currently ranked fifth, cannot move higher even if they whitewash Zimbabwe 3-0.

And, although South Africa would fall down the table if beaten, a pre-seedings policy means that the World Cup groups would remain unaffected. Australia, England, India and the hosts West Indies have been pre-seeded into different pools for the World Cup because of logistics: they will attract the largest support at the venues.

More teams than ever will take part in the World Cup: 16 teams will be split into four pools of four, with the top two teams progressing to the Super Eights ahead of the semi-finals. The competing teams comprise the 11 who currently have one-day international status, while the top five teams in the ICC Trophy, to be held in Ireland in July, will form the remainder.

"The LG ICC ODI Championship has proved to be a robust mechanism for rating teams since it was introduced in October 2002," said Malcolm Speed, the ICC's chief executive, "so it's the obvious base from which to determine the seedings for the ICC Cricket World Cup."

? Cricinfo


WORLD CUP GROUPS IF THEY WERE DRAWN ON 23 FEB:

GROUP 1:
Australia (1)
South Africa (5)
ICC Trophy qualifier (1)
ICC Trophy qualifier (5)

GROUP 2:
New Zealand (2)
India (8)
Bangladesh (11)
ICC Trophy qualifier (4)

GROUP 3:
Sri Lanka (3)
England (7)
Kenya (10)
ICC Trophy qualifier (3)

GROUP 4:
Pakistan (4)
West Indies (6)
Zimbabwe (9)
ICC Trophy qualifier (2)

 

[icyman]

yeah and India, Australia,West Indies & England have been given an island at which they will play all their 3 group matches as they will attract the crowds at the venues.
World Cup Final is to be played in Barbados.

 

[SaiSrini]

India with New Zealand?

This promises to be an exciting group with India and New Zealand, two good and exciting teams in the same group. Are the matches going to be played between teams in the same group? Hope we get more info!

 

[icyman]

well if india wins the series odi against pak we might be able to witness t\yet another indo pak wc match coz india will move up to number 6 in the rankings.
yeas and teams will play each other as in a round robin in theri respective groups.
the top two teams from each group will proceed to the super eight round of which the details are unavailable.
but the top four from the super 8 go to the semis
REst you know.

 

[SaiSrini]

well if india wins the series odi against pak we might be able to witness t\yet another indo pak wc match coz india will move up to number 6 in the rankings.
yeas and teams will play each other as in a round robin in theri respective groups.
the top two teams from each group will proceed to the super eight round of which the details are unavailable.
but the top four from the super 8 go to the semis
REst you know.

I hope that happens.. India vs Pak World Cup encounters are the best ever encounters that the cricket field has ever seen!!

 

[andrew_nixon]

well if india wins the series odi against pak we might be able to witness t\yet another indo pak wc match coz india will move up to

Won't happen, as the article says, it's the ICCs rankings on 1st of April that go towards this. The India v Pakistan ODI series starts on the 2nd of April.

 

[icyman]

yeah it wont as i have heard that india ,aus ,eng and the west indies have been alloted a fixed group.no change for these countries.

 

[sohum]

I hope the Super-8 format is appeasing enough because in the current format, a top team could just play 3 matches (2 of them against dummies) and then find themselves out of the WC. I hope its not a knock-out but actually a league battle of some sort.