20-20 World Cup Semi Finals

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Here is the schedule for the 20-20 world cup semifinals.

 

Sat 22 13:00 local, 11:00 GMT 04.00 PST

1st Semi Final - New Zealand v Pakistan Newlands, Cape Town E2 v F1

 

Sat 22 18:00 local, 16:00 GMT 09.00 PST

2nd Semi Final - Australia v India Kingsmead, Durban E1 v F2

 

 

And so, after the cut and thrust of the last ten days, a tournament that began with 12 teams has been whittled down to four. Pakistan take on New Zealand in Cape Town, but arguably the more mouthwatering contest is in Durban, where India, riding high after two top-class performances against England and South Africa, take on Australia, world champions in all forms of the game, but showing unusual signs of susceptibility in the Twenty20 format.

 

New Zealand v Pakistan, 1st semi-final, Cape Town

This is a clash of Pakistan flair versus Kiwi functionality. Although New Zealand have again more than held their own, they owe their passage to the semi-finals to India, whose 37-run win against South Africa dumped the home side out on net run-rate and allowed Daniel Vettori's side to sneak in.

 

Pakistan have reached the last four despite a stuttering display against Bangladesh, playing their typically aggressive cricket under the new coach, Geoff Lawson. Now Saturday's matches offer various mouth-watering permutations for the final: a Trans-Tasman clash, a replay of the 1999 World Cup final or, the ultimate match-up, an India-Pakistan showdown.

 

Australia v India, 2nd semi-final, Durban

Australia's ten-wicket thrashing of Sri Lanka in a virtual quarter-final on Thursday indicated, though, that they are peaking in time for the big games, a trait the Australians have almost perfected. They'll miss the presence of Ricky Ponting, while Shane Watson has flown home after hurting his hamstring again, but there is firepower in their ranks to make light of those absences.

 

The advantage for the Indians is familiarity with the conditions. They have played three times under the Kingsmead lights - twice over the last three days - and will know, to a large extent, what to expect from the pitch and the conditions. Australia, on the other hand, have never played in Durban during this tournament, and only one of their five games has been a 6pm start.

 

Join us for the semi finals, the results and the highlights right here on MyCricketBlog, you can watch yesterday's highlights in the earlier post here.

 

Njoi...