England face familiar foe

England will renew their rivalry with West Indies after the draw was made for next year's ICC World Twenty20.

England will meet the hosts in the tournament opener in Guyana on April 30 and then one of the two qualifiers.

Last month England's hopes of progressing in the World Twenty20 were ended at the hands of the Windies, who successfully chased down 80 at a drenched Oval.

West Indies made the most of the rain break to beat England at the Oval in last month's World Twenty20

Pakistan will begin the defence of their title against Bangladesh before meeting Australia. Runners-up Sri Lanka have been drawn against New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

In the final group, India, winners in 2007, will face South Africa and one other qualifier.

The venues for the tournament will be St Lucia, St Kitts, Barbados and Guyana with the final scheduled for the Kensington Oval on May 16.

In the women's competition, holders England will kick-off against old rivals West Indies in St Kitts on May 5.

In a bid to ensure the games are well attended, ICC have announced a series of ticket offers which include free entry to under-16s to all matches in Guyana and all first round matches in St Lucia, maximum ticket price of US$15 for all men's first round and Super Eights games, while all women's group games will be free.

Tickets, which will be available in November, for the men's and women's semi-finals at St Lucia - double-headers like this year's competition - start at US$10 for adults and US$6 for under-16s while the top priced ticket for finals day is just US$40.

West Indies Cricket Board President Dr Julian R Hunte is excited about holding the event.

“The ICC World Twenty20 has proven a successful and riveting event and the West Indies Cricket Board is pleased to host the third edition of this tournament next year," he said.

“We look forward to it being even more spectacular than the previous ones and invite you to join us in the Caribbean.”

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat added: “We have enjoyed two hugely successful events in this form of the game, first in 2007 in South Africa and last month in England, and I am certain next year’s action in the Caribbean will maintain, if not surpass, the successes of those previous global Twenty20 tournaments.

“One measure of success will be to fill the venues and to try to achieve this we have worked hard with the West Indies Cricket Board to ensure the ticket prices are extremely competitive.

“In Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts and St Lucia we have four outstanding venues, something that was shown in 2007 when they hosted matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup, and we know that West Indian spectators enjoy the format as they have already embraced Twenty20 at domestic level.

Charlotte Edwards lifts the World Twenty20 Trophy at Lord's after England beat New Zealand by six wickets

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“We also want to ensure spectators are able to enjoy the tournament and we will do everything we can to ensure the event is in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere in which people watch cricket in the Caribbean.

“I’m delighted we have retained the men’s and women’s tournaments in one event with the respective semi-finals and finals being played on the same days at the same venues. This will again provide women’s cricket with a great platform to showcase the talents of the top players.

“What I am looking forward to is another short, sharp tournament with 42 men’s and women’s matches over 17 days in true nation-versus-nation action and it should again be an outstanding and exciting showpiece,” he added.

Tournament Director Dr Ernest Hilaire said: “We have worked diligently to ensure that the ticket prices for the ICC World Twenty20 2010 are as competitive as possible and I think fans will agree that they are.

“I believe we will meet our primary objective of hosting sold-out matches in a truly Caribbean atmosphere.”

The decision to stage two ICC World Twenty20 events in successive years was taken by the ICC Board in October 2008 to ensure a better mix of tournaments over the coming years.

With the ICC Champions Trophy, postponed from last year and now taking place in September/October 2009, and the ICC Cricket World Cup, another 50-over event, set for 2011, the Board decided it made sense to programme an event of a different format as its major global event in 2010.