Cricket: NZ draw tough Twenty20 group

Brendon McCullum. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand have been drawn in a potentially curly group with Pakistan and Bangladesh for next year's world T20 championship in Sri Lanka.

The fourth edition of the tournament will be played in Colombo, Pallekele and Hambantota from September 18 to October 12, concurrently with the women's equivalent.

The men's event has four groups of three.

Defending champions England, who beat Australia in the final in the Caribbean last year, are in group A with India and a qualifier; West Indies, Australia and the other qualifier are in group B; Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe form group C and New Zealand are in group D.

The top two go into a Super Eight stage. The two qualifiers will be found at a tournament in the United Arab Emirates next March.

The New Zealand women are grouped with Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and a qualifier.

The men's and women's semifinals and finals will be played on the same day, in Colombo. The semifinals are on October 4 and October 5 with the finals on October 7.

India won the inaugural T20 crown in 2007, Pakistan the second tournament in England in 2009.