Champions Trophy Group B Decoded: Australia, South Africa Favourites. England, Afghanistan Dark Horse

Australia will be without their premier pacers but their envious pedigree in ICC tournaments make them favourites to progress to the semifinals of the Champions Trophy from Group B along with South Africa. But they will face stiff challenges from England and Afghanistan. Here's the Group B SWOT analysis.

Australia

Strength: No other team has a better record in global events — six 50-over World Cups, one T20 World Cup and two Champions Trophies make them the most fearsome white ball unit.

They have a model ODI batting line-up, which can do the shapeshifting with the ebb and flow of the game. Skipper Steve Smith, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Jake-Fraser McGurk, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell etc can be a handful in any conditions.

Weakness: They will be without Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, and that means the batters will have to do the heavy lifting in the tournament to give that extra cushion of runs to the bowlers.

Opportunity: It's a chance to assert their dominance in 50-over format and the Antipodeans would not want to miss it, and that desire should be their driving force against a set of group mates who are not exactly firing.

Threat: They are coming into the CT after a 0-2 defeat against Sri Lanka in the recent ODI series. The middling form of Labuschagne and McGurk will be a concern.

England

Strength: On the paper, the Old Blighty have the most powerful white ball batting. If the likes of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Harry Brook, Joe Root and Liam Livingstone fire in unison, it will be a nightmare for bowlers.

Their leg-spinner Adil Rashid is in good form as he had shown in the recent series against India, and he will have an important role to play on pitches that may give appreciable help to