Cricket: Long wait for semifinal opponents

New Zealand will know by tomorrow where they will be playing their Champions Trophy semifinal, but will have to wait until Sunday night before they discover who their opponents are.

The side who yesterday beat Pakistan by 51 runs at Mohali have become the first team to qualify for the tournament semifinals, in the process keeping alive their hopes of winning the mini World Cup for the second time.

Depending on the result of tonight's match between Pakistan and South Africa, New Zealand are now destined to play a semi in Mohali on Wednesday, or in Jaipur on Thursday.

If they finish top of the their pool, it will be the second semifinal against an unknown opponent on Thursday; if they're pipped on run-rate and finish second, it will be straight back to Mohali for a showdown on Wednesday.

New Zealand are at the top of Pool B with a run-rate equation measuring +0.572 well ahead of second-placed South Africa with -0.090, and even further ahead of Pakistan with -0.401.

Sri Lanka, who like New Zealand have played all three of their pool games, have posted just the one win and are out of contention. The permutations are even more complicated when it comes to New Zealand's likely semifinal opponent from Pool A.

Before the overnight game between India and the West Indies, all but England were in with a chance of making the final four, and nothing was likely to be settled until Sunday night's India-Australia match.

The West Indies' shock win over Australia blew the pool wide open from the opening week, and if Brian Lara's men can get up over England tomorrow to claim their second win, further upsets could be likely.

Australia, who have never won the Champions Trophy despite their recent dominance of the ODI scene, will almost certainly miss out once more if they cannot beat India on Sunday - a tough challenge in anyone's book.

New Zealand's biggest task in the lead-up to next week's semifinal is to restore the fitness of fast-bowler Shane Bond and all-rounder Scott Styris, both of whom were struggling with injury during yesterday's win.

Bond, who missed the first game with a back strain and failed to impress in the second, took three for 45 but pulled up with a hamstring complaint, while Styris batted with a runner after aggravating a back injury.

There were also concerns over batsman Hamish Marshall, who was not considered for selection because of a viral infection.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden yesterday hailed the New Zealanders' achievements, saying their efforts boded well after they toppled two of their toughest adversaries.