ICC Champions Trophy Semi Finals Face Off!

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Sreelata YellamrazuOct 1 2009

One would not call the four semi finalists of the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa a surprise. But can these four turn the match into the fantastic four to give the tournament a perfect ending?

pak happy1

aus happy1

They were not really a surprise in terms of making it to the semi finals. But Australia were not expected to get in by the skin of their teeth. India would still need a great run rate. But Australia did make a major mess of their chase against Pakistan in the Group A match to leave their fans on tenterhooks.

Ricky Ponting will either need to send a strong message across to his team or complete the job himself next time because now there really can be no slip ups. Not even against England.

eng happy1

Graeme Swann had talked about an ideal Australia-England final in the ICC Champions Trophy to seek revenge for the NatWest series. However, while he won't get his wish in the finals, although England have the perfect opportunity to ram home the point that they are no push overs despite losing the NatWest series by a 6-1 margin.

England have already showed that the change of atmosphere is suiting them perfectly but whether the last match against New Zealand which resulted in defeat will have an impact on their mind set remains to be seen as also the fact that whether the sight of Australia will make them cringe into a shell again.

nz happy1

New Zealand though could not emphatically state their abilities as they wobbled badly in their batting against England which ruined an otherwise impressive performance. But now that they are in the semi finals, they need to throw all self doubt, niggles and under dog ideas out of the window and compete not only on an equal but also, on a war footing because their opponent is none other than Pakistan, the only team that has looked like a winner from start to finish.

Apart from the match against Australia that was not going to affect Pakistan's standings, Pakistan have put their best forward including against India. Whether Pakistan deliberately went off the boil during their batting innings against Australia is debatable but their bowling suddenly set the cat amongst the pigeons.

If Pakistan can maintain their momentum, they will be unstoppable. Therefore, one feels that unless there is a 1999 World Cup final in England not to be repeated, New Zealand and England have the onus on them to bring themselves to the party and do more than beat the drums in the media.

ICC Champions Trophy semi final schedule:

Australia v England 2nd October, 12.30 GMT

New Zealand v Pakistan 3rd October, 12.30 GMT

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