Cricket

England come into this final desperate to win their first ever World Cup after having lost their previous three finals they reached in 1979, 1987 and 1992.

For all the stats that we can churn up, the most significant for most punters is the last meeting between the two teams.

Whisper it gently if you are of English persuasion, but Thursday’s ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against Australia could be the biggest clash between the two of 2019, even in an Ashes summer.

Hello and welcome to Silly Point – an ICC Cricket World Cup special series brought to you by The Stats Zone. Fitting for a mammoth summer of England-Australia clashes is that we have one more to define a World Cup finalist, at Edgbaston.

There is little to choose between these two sides although it is England who will take heart from the recent head-to-head record having won ten of the last 12 meetings between the two teams.

45 matches down, three to go and it’s almost semi-final time in the ICC Cricket World Cup! The Silly Point team crunch the numbers on historical meetings and trends from this World Cup with a specific analysis on wickets lost in the first ten overs of matches.

These two teams come into this semi-final in contrasting form as India have cantered through the group stage with just one solitary defeat, while New Zealand have stuttered their way through having lost their last three.

Australia will be keen to both finish in top spot to ensure they face arguably the weaker of the top four teams in the semi-finals.

We look ahead to Pakistan's match against Bangladesh in this special edition of Silly Point with presenter Martyn Hindley and TSZ MD Rob Esteva.

Sri Lanka managed to pick up a good win over West Indies on Monday despite already being eliminated but coming up against a motivated India team that will be keen to sharpen up before the semi-finals is a much different proposition.

It is difficult to see how Pakistan will be able to motivate themselves for this match given the margin of victory required to reach the semi-finals is virtually impossible.

West Indies have endured a miserable 2019 Cricket World Cup campaign and they will be looking to end it on a high note against Afghanistan

Plenty on the line for both of these teams as hosts England meet New Zealand in Durham with both needing a win to cement their semi-final places.

India’s defeat to England on Sunday may well spell bad news for Bangladesh here who need to get a win here to stay alive in the tournament but they are unlikely to receive any favours from Virat Kohli’s men.