England land tricky draw

Paul Collingwood is set to lead England in the ICC Champions Trophy 2008 © Getty Images

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England have been drawn to play South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the group stage of this year’s ICC Champions Trophy.

Paul Collingwood’s one-day side have been placed in Group B, with holders Australia, India, West Indies and hosts Pakistan in Group A.

The groupings were finalised on the basis of teams’ rankings in the LG ICC ODI Championship table as of March 12, which was the cut-off date for the determination of the seedings.

The two top teams in each group after the round-robin format is complete will progress to the semi-finals.

ICC Champions Trophy Draw (seedings in brackets):

Group A: Australia (1), India (4), Pakistan (5), West Indies (8)

Group B: South Africa (2), New Zealand (3), Sri Lanka (6), England (7)