Australia and South Africa confirmed as top seeds for ICC Champions Trophy

Australia and South Africa will be the first and second seeds respectively for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 the ICC confirmed today.

The groupings for the 12-team tournament will be based on the official One Day International ratings on 1 December 2003 and with no further matches before this date, Australia (136) and South Africa (118) are far enough of the pursuing pack that no other team is capable of catching them.

India's defeat at the hands of Australia in the TVS Cup yesterday means that it will have a rating of 105 when the groupings are announced as it has also completed its schedule.

This currently puts India in seventh place and heading for a meeting with South Africa but as all five of its closest rivals still have matches left to play, it could yet move up or down the table.

The rating of Sri Lanka - now third on 107 after beating England comprehensively yesterday - is only five higher than the rating of New Zealand in eighth on 103.

Before 1 December, Sri Lanka still has two more matches to play against England and New Zealand will play in Pakistan. West Indies - the other team in this six-way battle - has a five-match series in Zimbabwe.

Aside from Zimbabwe, any of these sides with matches to play could still claim a place as one of the tournament's top four seeds.

Matches in the ICC Champions Trophy 2004 will be played at three venues in England from 10 to 25 September.

The tournament schedule and ticketing arrangements will be made available once the groupings have been finalised in early December 2003.

Groupings will be based on ICC ODI Championship standings on 1 December 2003 as follows:

ICC One Day International Championship correct on 19 November 2003

Full predictions on potential outcomes of forthcoming ODI matches are available on the ICC website, www.icc.cricket.org

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