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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to be grouped with West Indies and Zimbabwe in the preliminary round of Champions Trophy One-Day cricket competition to be held in England in September next year.

Australia and South Africa will be the first and second seeds respectively for the ICC Champions Trophy 2004, the International Cricket Council confirmed Wednesday.

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

As of November 1, 2003, Pakistan is fourth in world One Day standings and may be placed with no.5 West Indies and no.9 Zimbabwe in group 4 as there will be four groups of three teams each in the preliminary round. The top One Day team, Australia, will likely be lumped with no.8 New Zealand and a qualifier in group 1 while group 2 may comprise South Africa, India and Bangladesh. The group 3 can bring together Sri Lanka, England and Bangladesh.

India's defeat at the hands of Australia in the TVS Cup on Tuesday 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 on Tuesday, is only five higher than the rating of New Zealand in eighth on 103.

Before December 1, 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 September 10 to 25. The current One Day Internationals standings:

1 Australia 136
2 South Africa 118
3 Sri Lanka 107
4 Pakistan 107
5 West Indies 106
6 England 106
7 India 105
8 New Zealand 103
9 Zimbabwe 63
10 Kenya 28
11 Bangladesh 0