So we are down to four.
The herd has been thinned, either in the intense heat of competition or the even more intense heat of geopolitical brinkmanship (miss you, Bangladesh, xoxo mwah). Rank underdogs like Italy, Canada, Oman and Australia have been eliminated. Scotland got the call-up late to turn up as replacement, spent juuust enough time at the competition to pick up their participation cheque, and promptly hightailed it out of there (don't spend it all at once, you crazy kids). Pakistan set a high score for most controversies to fewest matches won. And like the child at the birthday party who gets a little too excited in the bouncy castle, Sri Lanka went into a frenzy after a win against Australia, then promptly spent the rest of the event vomiting all over themselves.
It's been a while, but we're dusting off the Briefing to recap the paths our semi-finalists - each from a different continent - have trod.
England
The campaign so far: Of all the teams who have made it into the knockouts, England have teetered most mercurially on the line between genius and incompetence. They squeaked a win against Nepal to open their tournament, were thumped by West Indies, needed some lower-order bailouts to take down Italy, and, even in the Super Eight, didn't quite hit their straps. The batting was underwhelming against Sri Lanka, and Harry Brook's spectacular century against Pakistan was only just enough to get them across the line, the other batters falling in a heap around him.
England had put together a pretty forbidding XI full of T20 bish-bosh machines, and had additionally also arrived in South Asia early to familiarise themselves with these conditions. They had hoped to be riding a glorious steed into the knockouts, but have ended up astride a feral donkey with fire in its eyes, and they are riding this thing for all it is worth, to the very gates of hell if need be.
Best player: For a team stacked with big names, England have relied heavily on the all-round efforts of their offspin-bowling, lower-order batter Will Jacks, who doesn't look like much at first glance, but in this tournament has played like the reincarnation of the still-alive Garfield Sobers, crashing vital late boundaries, such as in the most recent match, against New Zealand, while wangling out important wickets, including in the powerplay.
Jacks describes himself as the "spare batter and spare bowler" of the XI, but his spare batting has reaped 191 runs at a strike rate of 177 this tournament, while the bowling has brought seven wickets. If the feral donkey needs a rider with equally fiery eyes and early-2000s Eminem-style bleached buzz-cut hair, this is the guy.
Predictions: England will scramble two further wins without ever looking clinical, at which point the tournament would have to start again, because everyone agrees you shouldn't be able to win an entire World Cup looking this scratchy.
South Africa
The campaign so far: South Africa have been so good in this World Cup, they might have even taken the "favourites" tag off India in India's home tournament. As with everything, this chain of events makes a lot of sense if you think about earning potential. India players only ever play in the IPL. South Africa's players, meanwhile, have both the IPL and the SA20 (the latter's franchises also having owners based in India).
They have stomped through the tournament unbeaten, playing like a team that has twice as much reason to impress as everyone else. They fought through a double Super Over against Afghanistan, won the group of death, trounced India in the Super Eight, and decked their African neighbour, Zimbabwe, to warm up for the semis. Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton are among the top six run-scorers in the tournament (no other team has more than one in the top seven). Lungi Ngidi, Corbin Bosch, and Marco Jansen are all among the tournament's top ten wicket-takers (again, no other team has this many this high up). All of which is fantastic news for South Africa fans. But also, you know, cha-ching.
Best player: Who else but their captain Markram, who has thumped two 80-odds and a fifty in this World Cup, and sent down overs of serviceable offspin when required, while marshalling his varied bowling resources effectively. Perhaps it is because South Africa won the World Test Championship last year, or perhaps it is because of Markram's ultra-assured leadership, that no one is even thinking the normal thing we think will happen to South Africa at the tight ends of tournaments.
Predictions: Plenty more zeroes in those bank accounts, baybay! Oh you mean, in the World Cup? Yah, they are nicely placed in that too.
New Zealand
The campaign so far: Usually this is a very pro-New Zealand safe space, but in this tournament, we can't help but notice they have snuck into the semi-finals through the back door. Not only were they thumped by South Africa in the group stage, they also kinda fell apart at the end of their match against England, when the supermassive supernova that is Jacks was exploding at the conclusion to the chase. The Super Eight match against Pakistan was a washout. In fact, the only Super Eight match they managed to win was against Sri Lanka, and given how incompetently Sri Lanka batted in that match, that win had the same vibe as picking up a toddler and throwing them into a high-voltage fence.
Was New Zealand's path here kinda sketchy? Yes. Have New Zealand earned enough goodwill over several recent tournament runs that we are willing to forgive it? Also yes. Carry on.
Best player: Would you look at that, it is another global tournament and there is that Rachin Ravindra again. He hasn't been crushing it with the bat exactly - he's hit 115 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 138.55. But with the ball, he's been absurdly effective with his tactic of hanging the ball out sloooowly way outside the right-hander's off stump. In Sri Lanka, some of his deliveries stuck in the pitch so long they started wearing sarongs and taking afternoon naps like many of the island's locals. For these labours he has collected nine wickets in 13 tournament overs, with an economy rate of 6.76.
Prediction: Morally, they should not progress any further than the semi-final. But then the good karma they deserve for having been on the wrong end of that 2019 ODI World Cup final still doesn't seem to have been fully paid out.
India
The campaign so far: India's flight took off in heavy winds, first blown by a squall from the USA bowlers, before storm South Africa seriously veered them off course. Maybe that one big defeat was what they needed. Since then the flight has resumed its path, as India's campaign has found a variety of contributors, most recently Sanju Samson, whose 97 helped down West Indies. The runway's been cleared. The path's all lit up. All India have to do is land this thing.
Best player: There are several contenders, but we'll pick their top wicket-taker, Varun Chakravarthy, who, in the match against West Indies, picked up a ball in the infield, and though the striker was stranded way down the pitch and the keeper was running to the stumps, lobbed the ball to the non-striker's end and missed the stumps by miles. This is the kind of comical fielding that can really humanise a juggernaut team.
Prediction: India are incredibly gracious victors in Ahmedabad, and their board uses their immense influence only for the growth and democratisation of the global game, those sweethearts.
Next tournament on the Briefing:
- Australia ban New Zealand players from the Big Bash League over suspect Anzac biscuits, and New Zealand choose to boycott the 2028 T20 World Cup. The ICC replaces them in the tournament with Turkmenistan.
- Like Don Bradman and Muttiah Muralitharan combined: Will Jacks' continued evolution.