And then there were four

NOW that the Proteas have been unceremoniously dumped out the ICC Champions Trophy, South African cricket fans can sit back and enjoy the semi-finals and final as neutrals.

Hosts England take on the Jeckyll and Hyde outfit of Pakistan in an intriguing match-up.

England have an established, settled team composed of some the best 50-overs exponents in the world. Most notably, the explosive Ben Stokes, who can turn a match with bat or ball.

He is backed up by the ever-reliable top-order batsman Joe Root, attacking wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and the nagging accuracy of Liam Plunkett’s bowling.

Pakistan, however, are an unknown quantity. Sarfraz Ahmed is relatively new to the captaincy role and Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf have played just eight ODIs between them.

They do have seasoned campaigners in Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad. With everything to play for, expect fireworks at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff tomorrow.

On Thursday unheralded Bangladesh face the highly-fancied Indian team at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

India boast the top run scorer in the competition so far in Shikhar Dhawan with 271 runs, while Bangladesh’s experienced campaigner Tamim Iqbal is third on 223.

Much will depend on Bangladesh’s ability to handle India’s formidable bowling attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

India captain Virat Kohli scored a classy 76 not out against South Africa and looks to be reaching top form again. This could be the death knell for Bangladesh.

An England versus India final looks on the cards for Sunday, but as they say… it’s a funny old game.