Cricket World Cup History: Ranking the top three semi-finals in World Cups

The 2019 World Cup is at its business end with just a couple of matches remaining before the knock-outs. Every team that has made it to the knockouts would be itching to put up their best performance to reach the final. From 1975 until now, every edition has seen some thrilling matches at this stage of the tournament.

In the first three editions, West Indies were the only side to have been unbeaten in the semi-finals, proving their dominance in that decade.On the other hand, Australia who were the champions in 1987 for the first time have qualified to semis on eight occasions, which is the highest by any team followed by India and New Zealand on seven occasions.

This also talks about the consistency in performance by these teams. From India, who were the ‘underdogs’ beating England in the semis of the 1983 World Cup to Kenya entering the last four in 2003, the game has provided the fans with the most unexpected results.

Here, we look back at the top three semi-final encounters in the history of the World Cup.

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#3 Australia vs West Indies (1996 World Cup)

Australia vs West Indies

In the 1996 World Cup, the league stage had two groups of six teams each. The top four from each group made it to the quarter-finals. Australia qualified to the quarterfinals with three wins while West Indies just scraped through to the top 8 after a surprising defeat against Kenya.

However, they bounced back in the quarterfinals by putting up a clinical performance against the Proteas to set up the second semi-final against Australia. On a green pitch in Mohali, the Kangaroos batted first after winning the toss.

As expected, the West Indian fast bowlers wreaked havoc as Australia lost 4 wickets for just 15 runs. Michael Bevan joined forces with Stuart Law and put on a partnership of 138 runs for the 5th wicket. This made a huge impact as they reached 207 in 50 overs.

In reply, West Indies started well with contributions from the Shivanarine Chanderpaul and Brian Lara. Once Lara departed after making 45, the captain Richie Richardson came into the middle to steady the innings. They were comfortably placed until Chanderpaul, who was playing extremely well holed one to the mid-off fielder.

The collapse started against Shane Warne and within no time the tail was cleaned up by Daniel Fleming. Richardson, who was at the other end couldn’t do anything but watch his team lose the match by 5 runs. Since then, the West Indies have never made it to the semi-finals in the World Cup.

Also see – India vs Sri Lanka head to head stats

#2 South Africa vs New Zealand (2015)

South Africa vs New Zealand

In the 2015 World Cup that was played in Australia and New Zealand, the Kiwis topped the Pool A with six wins while the Proteas finished second in Pool B. New Zealand and South Africa advanced to the semi-finals by defeating West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively in the last eight.

They faced each other in the first semi-final at Auckland which turned out to be a high-voltage encounter. It was a matter of making it to the finals as neither of them had played a world cup final. It was a seesaw battle that went down to the wire. Batting first, South Africa put on 281 in 43 overs in a rain-affected affair, thanks to a late blitz by David Miller.

Chasing a revised target of 298 in 43 overs, the Kiwis got off to a terrific start, scoring 71 in just 6.1 overs. However, they kept losing their top order at regular intervals and with the score at 149 for 4, Grant Elliott stitched a 103-run partnership with Corey Anderson before the latter was dismissed. Elliot, who was the architect of this chase, kept going as Luke Ronchi too was dismissed soon.

With 12 needed off the last over, Vettori squeezed a boundary on to the off side. With five runs needed off two balls, Elliott finished off things with a huge six off Dale Steyn over the long-on boundary. Every South African player was devastated, with tears rolling down from AB de Villiers' cheeks.

In what seemed like a top run for South Africa, their hopes of clinching a World Cup yet again came crashing down.

#1 Australia vs South Africa (1999)

Australia vs South Africa

This match definitely went down as one of the greatest ODI matches in cricket history. It all started in the Super-Six match between Australia and South Africa when Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh at short mid-wicket, who went on to score a match-winning century that kept them alive in the tournament. This win enabled them to finish second in the Super-Six stage, setting up a semi-final clash against the same team. Having won the toss, South Africa opted to field first in bowling friendly conditions.

Australia could only manage 213 runs with contributions from Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan. Chasing this, South Africa were in deep trouble after losing four wickets with just 61 runs on the board. Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes stitched a partnership that helped them recover.

With South Africa needing more than 40 runs, Kallis departed. Lance Klusener, who was in fine form, added valuable runs to the team with some big hitting. In the final over, they needed nine runs to win with just a wicket left. Klusener scored two consecutive fours in the first two balls that almost guaranteed them a win.

On the fourth delivery, Klusener steered one to the mid-off fielder and ran without looking at the non-striker. Allan Donald was in no position to run, lost his bat mid-way and got run out as the match was tied.

Australia qualified for the final in the most dramatic fashion on the basis of higher standing on the World Cup points table.