#Pakistan and India drawn in Group B, alongside South Africa and Sri Lanka
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England have been drawn against Australia at the ICC Champions Trophy next summer, and will also get the chance to avenge their World Cup elimination by Bangladesh.
New Zealand are the fourth team in Group A, while Pakistan and India will resume their rivalry in Group B alongside South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The tournament’s opening fixture, on 1 June at The Oval, will be between England and Bangladesh. England’s defeat against the Tigers sealed Eoin Morgan’s side’s early exit from the World Cup last March, prompting an overhaul of their one-day game.
“As a group, it’s a big thing for us, given that we came together just over 12 months ago and are growing so much, at quite a rapid pace,” said Morgan, who played in that defeat by Bangladesh, where they will tour from October to November this year.
“We’ve hopefully kept a squad of around 15, 16 players together, and it’ll be interesting to see where we’re at in comparison to the rest of the world. It’ll be a really important step.
“At the last two 50-over tournaments we’ve played [Bangladesh] and they’ve been very tricky opposition. In the last two years they’ve come on leaps and bounds.
“The evolution of the 50-over game has been unbelievable since the most recent World Cup. We’ve been doing our best to play catch-up, and the rate we’re growing as a side at the moment is really good for English cricket, and it’s great for us.”
The tournament’s final will also take place at The Oval, on 18 June, as the 15th match in 18 days. Cardiff and Edgbaston will be the other two venues on the third occasion England are hosts.
David Richardson, the International Cricket Council chief executive, was asked if it was purely coincidental that the tournament’s draw had led to yet another instalment in the intense rivalry between Pakistan and India. He said: “What we try and do is make sure that when you add up rankings of the different groups, that they all add up to the same number of points.
“You can do that in a number of ways. You can go ‘Zig, zag’, you can go like a snake ... No doubt we want to try and pit India versus Pakistan in our event. It’s massive around the world, and it’s probably no coincidence the two keep ending up in the same group.”
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