England draw Pakistan

The trophy to be contested in England next summer

England will launch their bid for ICC World Twenty20 Cup glory next summer against one of the qualifying nations at Lord’s on June 5.

Paul Collingwood’s side will not know who their first opponents are until the ICC associate countries have settled their battle for two places in the competition in Belfast during early August.

Scotland and Kenya fought their way through to participate in the inaugural World Twenty20 Cup in South Africa in 2007.

England will face a tougher hurdle in their second game with a clash against Pakistan - the top seeds in their group - at the Oval on June 7.

The top two go through to the super eight and, if all the nations live up to their seedings, then England face a difficult task to qualify for the latter stages of the competition.

They could face South Africa at Trent Bridge on June 11, holders India at Lord’s on June 14 and then Australia at the Oval 24 hours later.

The top two in each of the two groups will go through to the semi-finals - at Trent Bridge and the Oval respectively on June 18 and 19 with the final taking place at Lord’s on June 2.

The tournament is also incorporating the ICC Twenty20 Women’s World Cup with the bulk of the games being staged at Taunton.

However, the semi-finals and final are being held in conjunction with the men’s event as double-headers at Trent Bridge, the Oval and Lord’s.

The ICC have also been conscious of ensuring realistic ticket prices are available after many West Indian supporters were priced out of the 2007 World Cup in the Carribean.

Under-16s will be able to watch the final for as little as £10 and prices for adults have been based on three tiers of ’gold’, ’silver’ and ’family stand’ rates.

The most expensive ticket for the final is £90 but then they are scaled down to £60 and £50 respectively.

The group fixtures and venues are:
June 5 - England v associate member 1 (Lord’s)
June 6 - India v Bangladesh (Trent Bridge); New Zealand v associate member 2 and Australia v West Indies (the Brit Oval)
June 7 - South Africa v associate member 2 and England v Pakistan (the Brit Oval).
June 8 - Zimbabwe v Bangladesh and Australia v Sri Lanka (Trent Bridge)
June 9 - Pakistan v associate member 1 and New Zealand v South Africa (Lord’s)
June 10 - Sri Lanka v West Indies, India v Zimbabwe (Trent Bridge).