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England, South Africa and defending champions the West Indies will be Australia's big-name opponents at the T20 World Cup following Tuesday's draw.

Australia will begin its quest for an elusive T20 World Cup title against South Africa, with the draw for the short-form showpiece announced on Tuesday.

Aaron Finch's men will also meet England and defending champions the West Indies in the Super 12s, with the top two advancing to the semi-finals.

It's the one title that has eluded Australia, who have won the World Cup five times.

Australia, who host England in the Ashes later this year, will get an early crack at their perennial arch-rivals in the round-robin stage, a challenge wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey is embracing.

"Anytime we get to play against England is exciting, we know how dominant they have been in the white-ball format over the last few years," said Carey.

"Coming up against the West Indies recently, we know how tough that can also be. So, we are really looking forward to this tournament."

Australia faces an immense challenge following back-to-back T20 series defeats to the West Indies and Bangladesh, hardly the morale-boosting preparation they were seeking.

But Carey says it's an exciting challenge.

"We have waited an extra twelve months for this one and to have it now in the schedule and see the draw that Australia has got is truly exciting."

After the match against South Africa on October 23, Australia meet England a week a later at the Dubai International Stadium followed by the Windies on November 6 at the Abu Dhabi International Stadium.

Draw:

Round 1:

Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands, Namibia

Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman

(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)

Super 12s:

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2.

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2 and B1.