Champions Trophy: After England bowled out vs South Africa, all four semifinals confirmed – but not the matches | Cricket News
With England dismissed for a paltry 179 after opting to bat first in Karachi on Friday, South Africa’s place in the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 was officially confirmed. This means that the semifinal lineup at CT 2025 is the same as the World Cup 2023, although the matchups have yet to be decided.
In Group B, Australia’s place in the last four was confirmed on Friday, when their match against Afghanan was washed out without a result in Lahore. Afghanan, on 3 points, needed England to beat South Africa a margin of 200+ runs but England didn’t even score that many.
In Group A, India and New Zealand are confirmed to progress to the semifinals, and their clash on Sunday will determine who tops that pool. Pakan and Bangladesh finished without a single win as their match was washed out after two defeats each.
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Irrespective of who tops Group B (South Africa or Australia) we will not know the semifinal schedule until Sunday night. The schedule is such that India will play their semifinal in Dubai on Tuesday irrespective of where they finish in the group, so their opponents will also have to wait. The second semifinal is on Wednesday in Lahore, and will be the one that doesn’t feature India, who will take on Group B 2nd placed team if they beat New Zealand.
In fact, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo, both Australia and South Africa will travel to Dubai on Saturday itself, and one of those teams will return to Pakan based on what transpires in India vs New Zealand. The report said, “an ICC official said the decision had been taken to allow the side that plays the semi-final in Dubai on March 4 the maximum time to prepare for that contest.”
