World Cup semi-final clashes confirmed!

July 07, 2019Author - Editor2

1st: India (15 points)

India wrapped up a comfortable victory against Sri Lanka in their final group stage match in Saturday's early encounter at Headingley with their line-up purring in all departments. Having expected a long drive down the country to Birmingham, Virat Kohli's side long had their feet up by the time Australia finally fell over against South Africa and would have been pleasantly surprised to have their travel plans re-jigged for the shorter journey to Manchester and a pitch far more suited to their style of play. There they will face New Zealand, a side that has lost its past three group stage matches and enters the semi-final race as a distinct outsider. Rohit Sharma, who has already hit five World Cup centuries in this tournament to set a new record and is now eyeing off the overall run-scoring record held by Sachin Tendulkar. They will play the first semi on July 9, and should they progress through that, they will enjoy an extra two days rest before the final on July 14 in London.

2nd: Australia (14 points)

Australia's campaign hit a glitch at the wrong time with a 10-run defeat to South Africa at Old Trafford in their final match of the group stage saw them slip from the top spot on the table and set up a mouthwatering blockbuster World Cup semi-final with Ashes foes England at Edgbaston on Thursday. It might well have been a sleepless night in the Australian camp, with a hamstring injury to Usman Khawaja to consider that could well have ended his World Cup campaign, while Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Starc both appeared in discomfort at points during the match. That all comes hot on the heels of Shaun Marsh's fractured arm in the lead-up to the final group stage match after a brutal net session that had also seen Glenn Maxwell sent to hospital for x-rays. They beat England in their last meeting during the group stage as Jason Behrendorff ran riot with a five-wicket haul while England were in the midst of their own dip in form, but have since recovered. Australia's coaching staff of Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting and Brad Haddin will be working overtime to ensure there's a quick rebound for the defending champions. They have, after all, never lost a World Cup semi-final, but then again, they haven’t won an international at Edgbaston since 2001.

3rd: England (12 points)

What a difference a week makes. Having been almost on the canvas after their loss to Australia, England are now brimming with confidence after two thumping wins that have secured a semi-final spot for the first time in 27 years. They will now return to Birmingham for their semi-final and with the other option being India may well be buoyed to be facing Australia again. Since that reverse against Australia, England returned to form to thump India and New Zealand and enter the semi-finals back on a hot streak. With a jam-packed Edgbaston frothing at the mouth for a showdown between the two Ashes rivals, this could be the biggest and most important game for England cricket since final Test of the 2005 Ashes at The Oval.

4th: New Zealand (11 points)

Despite a third straight defeat to end the group stage, New Zealand have slipped into the top four with Pakistan unable to pull out a miracle to unseat them. The Black Caps beneficiaries of making the early running while Pakistan left to rue their sloppy start to the tournament. Unlike the top two places, the Kiwis have known where their semi-final berth would be and have headed to Manchester for their semi-final on July 9 where India await.

5th: Pakistan (11 points)

Hosts England did Pakistan no favours by beating New Zealand and it left the men in green needing a miracle to reach the semi-finals. They beat Bangladesh by a huge margin but it was scant consolation. They scored 315 but needed to bowl Bangladesh out for just 8 in order to get the necessary 0.98 increase in their Net Run Rate that would have seen them overtake New Zealand. Their seven-wicket thumping at the hands of the West Indies on the second day of the tournament ultimately making a huge difference in their campaign that robbed this tournament of a semi-final between Pakistan and India.

6th: Sri Lanka (8 points)

England's win over India saw Sri Lanka knocked out of the tournament. They finish the tournament sixth with two washouts to their name, a damp squib of an event that finished with a pounding at the hands of India on Saturday.

7th: South Africa (7 points)

A World Cup classic that saw them defeat Australia and dethrone them from the No.1 spot saw South Africa's miserable campaign at least end on a high note. That win came after they thumped Sri Lanka more than a week back which earned the Proteas just their second win of the tournament. It was almost like a traditional World Cup tournament in reverse for the Proteas this time they ended really strongly and held their nerve, but the inexplicable defeats and early exit came at the front end of the tournament when they lost to England, Bangladesh and India and had a washout against the West Indies in the first fortnight.

8th: Bangladesh (7 points)

Bangladesh's brave push for their first World Cup semi-final ran out of steam and they finished with successive defeats to Asian rivals India and Pakistan. The recriminations back home have already begun with captain Mashrafe Mortaza forced to defend his position and his tenure. They slipped down to 8th when South Africa, a side they had beaten early in the tournament to ignite their dreams of a semi-final spot, overtook them on net run rate in the group stage's final game.

9th: West Indies (5 points)

A tournament that promised so much has ended with a whimper for the Windies, who will look back on their heartbreaking loss to the Kiwis as the ‘what if’ moment of their campaign. Already out of the race for a semi-final spot, the Windies saw Chris Gayle off a winner in their final game against Afghanistan.

10th: Afghanistan (0 points)

Having fallen just short of beating both India and Pakistan and been in with a chance against the West Indies in their final game, Afghanistan head home winless with questions over what went wrong, and where they can continue to improve, abounding.