India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies have booked their place in 2015 World Cup cricket quarter finals. Earlier West Indies and Pakistan registered easy wins over Associate teams from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ireland respectively on the final day of round-robin actions to confirm their passages into the knock-out stage.
In the early kick-off, the Caribbeans cantered to a 6-wicket win over UAE. Jason Holder and Co. exploited the perfect bowling condition to rock a relatively inexperienced UAE batting line-up. Batting second, the winners of 1975 and '79 editions reached the target of 176 runs with 117 balls remaining.
In the second match, Pakistan walloped giant-killers Ireland by seven wickets with wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed notching up his maiden ODI ton. Earlier in the Ireland innings, skipper William Potterfield defied an all-out Pakistan attack to post his seventh ODI hundred and helped his side to a modest total of 237 runs.
Windies and Pakistan, both from Pool B, were on the verge of elimination, but they kept their cup hopes alive with Sunday's wins. India – having won all their six matches – along with pre-tournament favourites South African, have already qualified for the last-eight stage from the group.
In Pool A, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have booked their knock-out spots.
Quarter-final line ups:
First quarter-final: South Africa vs Sri Lanka on March 18, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney. Second quarter-final: Bangladesh vs India on March 19, at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.
Third quarter-final: Australia vs Pakistan on March 20, at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide. Fourth quarter-final: New Zealand vs West Indies on March 21, at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Sunday's results confirmed that India finished on top of Pool B, followed by South Africa (second), Pakistan (third) and West Indies (fourth). In Pool A, New Zealand claimed top spot, followed by Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
First semi-final will be played between the winners of New Zealand-West Indies and Sri Lanka-South Africa matches on March 24 at Eden Park, Auckland, while the winners of Australia-Pakistan and Bangladesh-India matches will play the second semi-final two days later at Sydney Cricket Ground. The final will be played in Melbourne on March 29.
The tournament organisers have scheduled a reserve day for each of these seven knock-out matches. If a quarter-final or a semi-final match is tied, abandoned or if it is a no-result, the team that finished higher in the pool stage will progress.
Pakistan's victory sets up Australia showdown
Earlier, a Sarfraz Ahmed century guided the 1992 World Cup champions to a seven-wicket win against Ireland in Adelaide. Pakistan's win was completed amid bizarre scenes with Umar Akmal blocking out balls as the victory target neared in order to allow Sarfraz to get the runs needed to complete his century, Pakistan's first of the World Cup. William Porterfield won the toss and delivered a captain's knock of 107, but received scant support and the Irishmen were rolled for 237.
Big win for West Indies
West Indies bowled out UAE for 176 in 36.2 overs and chased down the target in 30.3 overs to book their place in the quarter finals. Johnson Charles, brought in for the injured Chris Gayle and Jonathan Carter playing his second tournament took West Indies past the target without much incident.
Raina, Dhoni lead India to emphatic victory over Zimbabwe
Suresh Raina hit a rollicking century as India recovered from a top-order collapse to prevail over minnows Zimbabwe by six wickets, finishing their group league engagements with a clean slate. Riding on Raina's brilliant unbeaten 110 and an equally important 85 by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India overhauled commendable target of 288 in 48.4 overs, recording their highest run chase in a World Cup match.
Mitchell Starc stars as Australia pummel Scots
Mitchell Starc continued his impressive World Cup campaign with a four-wicket haul as Australia overpowered Scotland by seven wickets. Starc took four for 14 in 4.4 overs as Scotland, in their last Pool A match of this tournament, collapsed to 130 all out in barely half their allotted overs after losing the toss at Bellerive Oval. There were five ducks in the innings, with fast bowler Pat Cummins, recalled in place of dropped spinner Xavier Doherty, taking three for 42 in seven overs.
England's failed campaign ends with a win
England brought an end to their miserable World Cup campaign with a nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan under the DuckworthLewis method in a rain-disrupted final Pool A match. Set 101 to win from 25 overs after the wet weather had curtailed the Afghan innings at 111 for seven from 36.2 overs, England romped to their target with 41 balls to spare.
New Zealand complete unbeaten group run
New Zealand completed an unbeaten run by defeating Bangladesh by three wickets. A third-wicket partnership of 131 between Martin Guptil and Ross Taylor rescued the New Zealanders after their leading batsmen Brendon McCullum (8) and Kane Williamson (1) had departed in the space of an over while chasing 289 to win their sixth consecutive tournament match.
South Africa into World Cup quarter-finals
South Africa defeated the United Arab Emirates by 146 runs to make sure of their place in the World Cup quarter finals. The Proteas made 341 for six with skipper AB de Villiers scoring 99 from 82 balls, Farhaan Behardien contributing 64 from 31 and David Miller (49) falling one run short of a half century. In reply, the UAE were dismissed for 195 in 47.3 overs with Swapnil Patil making 57 not out.
Sangakkara, Dilshan tons set up big win
Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka became the first man in ODI history to score centuries in four consecutive innings, and the first to make four hundreds in one World Cup, and together with Tillakaratne Dilshan he ensured a comfortable win over Scotland. The 148-run victory should mean Sri Lanka finish third in Pool A. Scotland showed some fight with the bat, but the 195-run partnership compiled by Sangakkara and Dilshan was the difference. To cap off his outstanding day, Sangakkara also moved past Adam Gilchrist to top the all-time World Cup wicketkeeping dismissal tally.
