Seedings for the 2007 World Cup will be based on one-day international team standings on April 1 this year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday.
The five teams who do not hold official one-day status will be seeded on their performances at the ICC Trophy in Ireland from July 1-13.
However, champions Australia, England, India and West Indies have already been pre-ranked into four separate groups to facilitate transport and accommodation arrangements during cricket's showpiece tournament.
"The ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 will involve a record 16 teams that will be split initially into four groups of four," ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement.
"The top two teams from each of these groups will progress to the Super Eights stage from which four teams will qualify for the semi-finals.
"The LG ICC ODI Championship has proved to be a robust mechanism for rating teams since it was introduced in October 2002 so it is the obvious base from which to determine the seedings for the ICC Cricket World Cup," he added.
"With two qualifying places in each group, I believe the format gives a fair chance to all participating teams."
Australia will be based at St Kitts & Nevis for the tournament's preliminary round while India, losing World Cup finalists in 2003, will be in Trinidad and Tobago.
England will be based in St Lucia and hosts West Indies in Jamaica, which will stage the tournament's opening match.
Antigua, Barbados, Grenada and Guyana are the other venues for the event, whose 51 matches will take place between February and April 2007.
