Australia will reportedly face England in the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup, with the traditional rivals placed together without a draw taking place.
The UK Telegraph reports the Ashes nations will face off in the Caribbean, likely at Barbados’ Kensington Oval where the Poms beat the Aussies to win the 2010 T20 World Cup, in the initial stage of the expanded 20-team tournament.
India and Pakistan will also face off in the group stage at New York’s Eisenhower Park – a temporary 34,000-seat venue – with the ICC keen to ensure major matches are locked in.
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However these decisions have been made without an official draw taking place.
“The groups are based on a series of factors – ensuring that India meet Pakistan the most important – while trying to ensure balance between the different pools,” the report stated.
“Once it was decided that India meet Pakistan in the US, it became important to stage other marquee matches in the tournament in (the) West Indies.”
The group stage will see four groups of five teams facing off in a round-robin format, with the top two in each group advancing to the Super 8 stage.
In the Super 8s, two groups of four will play another round-robin, with the top two in those groups advancing to the knockout stage. Seeding in this stage will be based on pre-tournament seeding, rather than first stage performance, in an attempt to ensure travelling fans know which nations their team will be playing their Super 8s matches in advance.
Jamaican media has reported Barbados’ Kensington Oval will host the tournament final. Matches will be played in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Trinidad, Florida, New York and Texas.
Given England and Australia are the two most recent winners of the T20 World Cup, and currently rank second and fifth respectively in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings, it’s likely they will be given a relatively weak group around them; likewise with India and Pakistan, who rank first and fourth.
The highest-ranking teams remaining are New Zealand (third), South Africa (sixth), West Indies (seventh) and Sri Lanka (eighth); these teams will likely be the strongest sides in the other two groups.
That leaves Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Namibia, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, the United States, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Nepal, Oman and Uganda to place.
The tournament will take place from June 4 to 30.
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