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It’s battle rejoined. Just in case there hadn’t been enough of England facing Australia in recent months, the semi-final of the Champions Trophy has thrown together a rematch. There shouldn’t be much these two sides don’t know about each other, but the intrigue of this meeting is that it’s a straight knockout. Most expected Australia to be here, but few imagined England would still be in the tournament.

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There are all sorts of scenarios and permutations about which teams could make it through to the semi-finals in Group A but the simplest is this: if Australia beat India, it will be Pakistan and Australia who progress. The group will be done and dusted with two games to go. Things become more complex if India win. They will be in prime position due to their remaining game against a weakened West Indies and Australia’s fixture against an unbeaten Pakistan. However, should India and Australia either both win or both lose their last group game, net run-rate will be required to determine the semi-finalists.

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For once, India and Pakistan will not be playing on an island. India-Pakistan matches are usually separate events within the main event, oblivious to the larger picture of the tournament, but this game doesn’t seem to be the usual matter of life and death. For once, this match, though the first big clash of the Champions Trophy in terms of traditional rivals coming face to face, is more about the cricket.

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In theory this is the rematch of the most recent Champions Trophy final. In reality, it looms as a serious mismatch. In 2006 in Mumbai, an Australian side featuring Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn, Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds polished off a disappointing Brian Lara-led West Indies outfit to take the title. Flash forward three years and Australia, the defending champions, have lost much of their aura and sit second on the ODI rankings. They are by no means favourites to hold the title but they should kick off their tournament with victory over a mish-mash of second-string West Indians who were beaten at home by Bangladesh but did give Pakistan a scare this week.

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Andrew Strauss is usually as affable as international captains come, but despite his upbeat sentiments, there was no disguising the exhausted despondency with which he addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, as England prepared to face the music in a one-day competition that has humiliation stamped all over it. True, they arrive in the country boasting a winning streak of one match, after denying Australia a 7-0 whitewash in the final ODI of the English summer on Sunday, but even in that irrelevant face-saver, they still shipped six wickets chasing 177.

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Pakistan, a team with a dash of mercurial madness, are pitted against West Indies, who are fighting an identity crisis. On paper it’s a mismatch: Weakened considerably by the ongoing imbroglio between the board and the main players, West Indies were swept aside by Bangladesh at home recently and few are giving them a chance in this tournament.

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Lack of choices can be a blessing in disguise. Hence we have potentially the best event organised by the ICC in a long while. Not entirely by design, though: there was no window for a longer tournament, there isn’t even a reserve day for the final. So there was no space for flab or Super Sixes or Eights or whatever. Although Bangladesh can argue they had a better case than West Indies, few could have envisaged the political turmoil in the Caribbean when the tournament was being drawn up. As a result the preliminary groups are neither meaningless cakewalks nor so fickle that one freak loss ends the tournament for a team. Throw in the fact that the top three teams are so close to each other, the No. 1 ranking is likely to change hands more often in this tournament than the baton in a relay race. So good on the ODIs, which could do with this shot in the arm.

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Warmup cricket match between India v New Zealand (Ind vs NZ) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Potchefstroom from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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2nd Warmup cricket match between South Africa v West Indies (SA v WI) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Potchefstroom from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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1st Warmup cricket match between Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Pak v SL) in ICC Champions Trophy is scheduled at Benoni from 14:30 local time (12:30 GMT). Watch free high quality online tv streaming on Live Cricket Match and Hasan Online Sports. Please allow 1/2 minutes to download the streaming and press Play to start the video. If the video is not playing, please refresh the page and start downloading the video again.

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