The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ICC confirms World Cup seedings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

ICC confirms World Cup seedings

LONDON, APRIL 1. India has continental rivals Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, besides a qualifier, in its pool in the 2007 World Cup after the International Cricket Council confirmed the seedings for the mega event here on Friday.

India, which has been given the eighth seeding according to its official position in the ICC ODI Championship table on April 1, 2005, will figure in Group 2, the ICC said in a release here.

While ICC announced the seedings for 11 teams, the remaining five will be ranked according to their performance in the ICC Trophy to be held in Ireland in July this year.

The 16-nation tournament will be played at eight venues in the Caribbean islands during February and March 2007.

Holder and top seed Australia will be based in St. Kitts and Nevis. India's group will be hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, while England will play its group games in St. Lucia. Host West Indies will begin its campaign in Jamaica.

The teams, split into four groups of four teams each, will play a round-robin group stage, with the top two from each group progressing to the Super Eights stage. In the Super Eights, each team will play against every other team it has not already played.

The result of the game between the two leading teams in the group stage will be carried forward. The top four teams at the end of the Super Eights will qualify for the semifinals.

Exciting contests

ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that the announcement of the seedings raised the prospect of some thrilling encounters in the early stages of the tournament.

``Confirmation of the seedings means we can already look forward to a number of mouth-watering clashes in the group stage,'' Speed said.

``Host team West Indies against Pakistan looks to be a key game in Group 4, while the presence of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group 2, allied to the Asian cultural influence in Trinidad and Tobago, will make for a wonderful atmosphere and some compelling cricket,'' he added.

Final seedings and groups:

Group 1: Australia (1), South Africa (5), first and fifth qualifiers.

Group 2: Sri Lanka (2), India (8), Bangladesh (11) and fourth qualifier.

Group 3: New Zealand (3), England (7), Kenya (10) and third qualifier.

Group 4: Pakistan (4), West Indies (6), Zimbabwe (9) and second qualifier. — PTI

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