England have only played twice at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia

Defending champions Australia will be based in St Kitts & Nevis, while 2003 losing finalists India will start their campaign in Trinidad and Tobago.

Hosts West Indies will be in a first round group based in Jamaica, which will also stage one of the semi-finals along with St Lucia.

The honour of playing host to the final has been handed to Barbados.

Barbadians are soaring on new wings of pride Prime Minister Owen Arthur

Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur welcomed the news with a live television address to the nation.

"I charge the whole country to mobilise itself over the next three years to get Barbados ready to make 2007 a date with destiny and a date that will live on as a glorious chapter in the history of this island," Arthur said.

"I believe Barbadians are soaring on new wings of pride, but they are also humbled by the awesome responsibility that now falls to us to showcase the Caribbean in a new and unique way as a world-class civilization."

In all, Barbados will stage seven matches, with six other matches in the quarter-finals, also known as the Super Eight League.

Earlier this month, eight Caribbean countries were awarded the right to stage World Cup matches by the International Cricket Council.

The competition will be played between February and April 2007 and feature 16 teams playing a total of 51 matches.

England, Australia, West Indies and India were placed in separate groups for the opening phase because they are expected to have the largest travelling support.

Ground guide: St Lucia

England visited St Lucia for the first time during their tour to the Caribbean earlier this year, but lost both one-day internationals - the first by five wickets and the second by four wickets.

The top two teams from each first round group will progress to the Super Eight phase which will see games played in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada and Guyana.

Estimates put potential revenue for the West Indies Cricket Board at �54.6m.