The Statistic That Gives England Hope In Their ICC Cricket World Cup Semi-Final Against Australia
For all the stats that we can churn up, the most significant for most punters is the last meeting between the two teams. Reunions have taken place within the same tournament 17 times in ICC Cricket World Cup history and on only three occasions has the first result been overturned in the knockout stages. Digging into the data, The Stats Zone tells you why that can be good news for England.
Even the shocks came with warning signs
India’s win over double world champions West Indies in the 1983 final at Lord’s is often seen as the first major surprise in the tournament’s history but their win in the opening group stage meeting in Manchester is regularly forgotten. On that occasion, Ravi Shastri and Roger Binny took three wickets apiece as India won by 34 runs but India were to be on the receiving end in 1996 when 66/1 outsiders Sri Lanka got the better of them in the first round and again, in a tempestuous semi-final.
Australia feature in every turnaround
England will be delighted to see that each of those three transformations in fortune have included their semi-final opponents, Australia. Having lost to the West Indies in the 1996 group stage, Shane Warne somehow managed to conjure a collapse in Mohali that took the Aussies to the final. They then repeated the trick in 1999, fighting back from a defeat to Pakistan to smash them in a one-sided final at Lord’s. The last time was the most recent, with a thrilling one-wicket loss to New Zealand being avenged with a caning on the other side of the Tasman Sea in the MCG final. Having lost to Australia in the group stage, does that make for a good omen for Eoin Morgan?
