CWC History: Five teams with the most number of semi-final appearances

We are less than 24 hours away from the 12th edition of ICC Cricket World Cup. The host nation England will take on South Africa in the tournament opener. This year’s edition will be an open tournament owing to the nature of the format.

After 20 long years, England will host the tournament for the first time since the 1999 edition. As expected, England and India will start the competition as heavy favorites. Teams like West Indies, New Zealand, and South Africa will be the ‘dark horses.’ Meanwhile, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan can surprise everyone by reaching the semi-finals. At the same time, Australia can spring a surprise by winning the World Cup for a record sixth time.

With the new format looks daunting, reaching the semi-finals of this edition itself will be a massive achievement because of the quality of the teams. Now, let us look at five teams who have reached the semi-finals most number of times in the history of the competition.

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#5 England (5)

England will look to end their World Cup drought in this year

England, the nation who invented the great game of cricket, is yet to win their first World Cup trophy. In the 11 editions of the tournament, England has reached the semi-finals only five times. Interestingly, all those successes came at the first five editions.

In the inaugural edition and the 1983 edition, they reached the semi-finals. However, in the remaining three tournaments, they finished as runners-up. In particular, their 1992 World Cup final against Pakistan was a close contest. Though the run chase was under England’s control, an over from Wasim Akram turned the entire context of the game.

After the 1992 World Cup, England barely tasted any incredible success in the mega tournament. They did not even cross the group stage three times (1999, 2003, and 2015). Among those three editions, 1999 edition was the most horrible tournament as England was the host nation.

England’s painful exit in the 2015 World Cup completely changed the entire landscape of limited-overs norms in England. Eoin Morgan’s fearless lads are the pioneers of the modern age ODI cricket. The hard-hitting, explosive nature of England batsmen has recently raised speculation about the possibility of 500 in this World Cup.

After four years of tremendous hard work, it is time for Morgan’s boys to relish their ultimate goal and rewrite the history books in this World Cup.

#4 Pakistan (6)

Imran Khan with the 1992 World Cup trophy

Pakistan failed to cross the group stage in the inaugural edition of World Cup. However, they reached the semis in the next four consecutive editions (1979, 1983, 1987, and 1992). In particular, they won the 1992 tournament under the excellent leadership of Imran Khan. Until this date, Pakistan’s 1992 triumph remains their only World Cup victory.

Pakistan failed to defend their title in the 1996 edition as they were eliminated by their archrivals India in the quarter finals. Though they roared back strong in the 1999 edition, they were humiliated by Australia in the final.

In the next two editions (2003 and 2007), they failed to cross the group stage once again. In the 2011 edition, they reached their sixth semi-final only to lose against India once again. In the last edition (2015), the eventual champions Australia knocked out Pakistan in the quarterfinals.

#3 India (6)

India celebrating their second World Cup success

After two underwhelming tournaments, India surprised everyone by defeating the mighty West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final. In the 1987 edition, they lost to England in the semi-finals. Though they failed at the group stage in the 1992 edition, they came back strongly in the 1996 edition by reaching their third semi-final. However, an unfortunate batting collapse after the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar stirred a riot at Eden Gardens. As a result, Sri Lanka was awarded the victory by default.

After a poor 1999 campaign, India reached their second final in the 2003 World Cup. However, a rampant Australian team thrashed India in the final by a massive margin of 125 runs. In the 2007 edition, Bangladesh stunned India in one of the group stage matches. In the end, they failed to cross the group stage for the first time since 1992.

In the 2011 World Cup, India roared back in style by winning the tournament for the second time. However, in the 2015 World Cup, they lost to the eventual champions Australia in the semi-final.

#2 New Zealand (7)

New Zealand came close in the last edition

New Zealand is the only team in the history of World Cup to reach the semi-finals for the most number of times (7) without winning the tournament at least once.

They reached the semi-finals in the first two editions (1975 and 1979). Later, they failed to cross the group stage in the next two editions (1983 and 1987). However, in the next six tournaments, they reached the semi-finals four times (1992, 1999, 2007, and 2011).

In the 2015 edition, they went one step further and finished as runners-up for the first time under the guidance of Brendon McCullum. Despite appearing in seven semi-finals, New Zealand has never entered any tournament as favorites. They will once again enter this year’s competition as a ‘dark horse.’ It will be interesting to see whether New Zealand can break their jinx in this World Cup.

#1 Australia (7)

Australia won their fifth World Cup in the last edition

Australia’s dominance in the ODI cricket can be divided into two stages - pre 1999 World Cup and post 1999 World Cup. In the first six editions, they reached the semi-finals only three times. However, in all those three times, they went all the way to the finals and finished as runners-up twice (1975 and 1996). In the 1987 edition, they went one step further and lifted their first World Cup trophy.

From the 1999 World Cup, they started to bully their oppositions for fun in almost all the pinnacle tournaments. They won seven consecutive matches in the 1999 edition to lift their second World Cup.

In both the 2003 and 2007 editions, they completely dominated the entire tournaments, without even losing a single match. In the process, Australia became the only team in the history of the World Cup to win three consecutive championships.

However, the rampant Australian team was stopped by India in the 2011 World Cup as India eliminated them in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, in the 2015 edition, Australia roared back in style by winning their fifth World Cup in front of their home crowd.