Australia through to the Semis....

With Bangladesh and Ireland through into the Super Eight, the World Cup Cricket 2007 may have lost more sheen than it's obvious.

- For one, 11 out of the 24 matches in the Super Eight will feature either Bangladesh or Ireland. These teams may have qualified for the next stage, but are not expected to give any serious competition to the big 6. Except for another surprising day in case there is an upset, you can expect lots of non-matches.

- Under most likely scenarios, it's likely that at least one team will go into the semi-finals carrying 8 points and one more may carry just 10 points. What this means is that Newzealand and Australia, which carry forward 2 points and are expected to defeat Bangladesh and Ireland may get to the semis by winning just one of their big games. Effectively, you could almost be sure that Newzealand and Australia are as good as through to the semis.

So that leaves England, West Indies, South Africa and Sri Lanka to fight out for the remaining 2 slots. So much so for the Super-eight! - Just one victory against SA and England for Australia and NZ respectively have as good as guaranteed them a passage to the semis. The ICC needs to look into the format yet again, I think! May be a super-ten now so that commercial favourites India can somehow make it to the second round at least!!