Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia’s road to the semifinals

Ahead of Thursday's match, take a look at a table of Australia's road to the semifinals.

Cricket World Cup 2023: Australia’s road to the semifinals

Australia cricket team (Image via ESPNcricinfo)

Australia are eyeing their sixth ODI World Cup victory this year. They will be locking horns with Temba Bavuma-led South Africa in the semifinals on Thursday (November 16) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Though the defending champions reached the last four after a strong performance in the later stages of the group stage, their road to the semifinals was not smooth at all. They started their campaign with a disappointing defeat to host India and lost to South Africa in their second match.

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But despite the two consecutive defeats, they steadied their ship and got back to winning ways in their next matches. They went on to win their next seven matches on the trot, beating Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.

Even though they were on the cusp of losing to Afghanistan, a strong performance by Glenn Maxwell secured them a memorable win. They secured themselves a berth in the semifinal with seven wins from nine matches.

Australia’s road to the semifinals

Ahead of Thursday’s match, take a look at a table of Australia’s road to the semifinals. They played their first match against India and their last match against Bangladesh.

Australia's road to the semifinals
Australia cricket team (Image via ESPNcricinfo)
Sr. noOpponent DateVenueResult 
1India October 8ChennaiLoss
2South Africa October 12LucknowLoss
3Sri LankaOctober 16LucknowWin
4PakistanOctober 20BengaluruWin
5NetherlandsOctober 25Delhi Win
6New ZealandOctober 28DharamshalaWin
7EnglandNovember 4Ahmedabad Win
8AfghanistanNovember 7Mumbai Win
9BangladeshNovember 11Pune Win

In the 2019 edition, they ended up second on the points table with seven wins from nine matches. But they lost to host England in the semifinals by eight wickets.

Needless to say, Australia are the most successful team in the history of the ODI World Cup, because they have clinched five titles, in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2015. They also reached the finals of the 1975 and 1996 editions.

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