New format for World Cup

England will face India and South Africa in an expanded seven-team group in the first round of the 2011 World Cup.

ICC opt for two groups of seven at 2011 tournament

England will face India and South Africa in an expanded seven-team group in the first round of the 2011 World Cup. The format - two groups of seven teams - was confirmed at a meeting of the International Cricket Council board in Johannesburg on Wednesday. England have been placed in Group B, with West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Holland also awaiting them. The new format for the tournament in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which will see the overall number of games reduced from 51 to 49, will take over from the much-criticised structure of the last World Cup in West Indies in 2007, which began with four groups of four and progressed to a Super Eight stage. "We're already certain that it will be shorter," said ICC president David Morgan.

Mistakes

"You can be sure that we at the ICC have learnt from past mistakes. "I mean there is no doubt that the ICC World Cup in the Caribbean was unsuccessful in some aspects. "We've learnt from that and I think that it's not worthy that we've now staged three highly successful events - 2007 and 2009 - World Twenty20 and now the Champions Trophy in the same years." India is to host 29 fixtures, including a semi-final and the final. Sri Lanka will stage the other semi-final. According to the provisional schedule, Bangladesh is due to stage the opening ceremony on February 18 and the first game the following day, as well as two quarter-finals. India will stage matches in eight venues, Sri Lanka has 12 matches at three venues and Bangladesh eight at two. 2011 World Cup draw:
Group A: Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya
Group B: India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands