The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 group stage has exposed 10 nations to every possible pressure, examining every nook and cranny of their method in the 50-over format.
India, Australia, England and New Zealand have ridden the wave and reached the final four on the strength of clear plans and outstanding individuals.
While India wil continue its game against New Zealand in the first semi-final today, and the second semi-finals looming in a day time, we look at the numbers behind the Ashes rivals success and areas of weaknesses that could prove their undoing in the knockout stages.
AUSTRALIA
Openers vital
A fascinating factor over the course of the league stage was the influence held by the success of opening partnerships — or the lack of it.
Australia averaged 55 for their first wicket, with wins over England, Pakistan and Bangladesh buttressed by the dovetailing of Aaron Finch and David Warner.
Across the group stage, losing teams only had three opening partnerships of more than 50 in total, whereas winning teams had 12 century stands and 10 more over 50.
With Australia's batting line-up set to be rejigged after the loss of Usman Khawaja to injury, separating Finch and Warner early will be high on England's agenda on Thursday.
The Big Show
In Glenn Maxwell, Australia boast by the far the quickest starter to an innings at the 2019 World Cup.
The 30-year-old struck at 195.45 in the first 15 balls of his innings in the group stage - only Pandya comes close — with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh bearing the brunt. Indeed only Jos Buttler had a lower dot ball percentage (27.84%) than Maxwell, who scored from two-thirds of the deliveries he faced.
England’s middle-overs bowling has been mixed so the work of Maxwell and Alex Carey, who has broken out with three half-centuries, takes on even greater significance in the semi-final.
Lack bowling depth
Australia’s all-rounders have underperformed with the ball, meaning they haven't quite added up as a bowling unit yet at this World Cup.
Maxwell has bowled 32 overs without taking a wicket and while Marcus Stoinis has taken seven victims, his overall economy rate comes in at a shade over a run-a-ball.
This has forced the likes of Finch and Steve Smith to turn their arm over and piled pressure on Jason Behrendorff, four of whose ten ODI appearances have come at this tournament.
It’s a sore spot that will have England’s powerful middle-order salivating.
ENGLAND
A force first up
Put simply, no-one does it quite like England with the bat in the Powerplay.
They averaged 54.22 for the first wicket in the group stage but crucially scored at 5.43 runs an over, faster than every team other than Sri Lanka, who shed wickets early on.
Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy hold the key as the highest averaging ODI opening pair of all time to have batted more than 20 times together.
They keep on coming
It's not just in the early stages that England throw caution to the wind — they only have eyes for the boundary throughout the 50 overs.
Only West Indies (10.7%) had a higher boundary rate in overs 11-40 than the hosts in the group stage, who hit 10.3% of balls they faced in that crucial period for four or six.
And with their tail scoring at a higher run-rate than any team in the world since the last World Cup — 6.19 an over - they are an irresistible force with the bat in the right conditions.
Brittle with the ball
Cutting edge with the ball is the main area in which England lag slightly behind the other three contenders to lift the World Cup.
They bowled more overs than any other semi-finalist and their strike-rate of 35.2 was dwarfed by India’s 33.3, New Zealand's 33.8 and Australia's 33.9.
And chasing totals has been a chink in the armour of Eoin Morgan's men at this tournament — having won 17 consecutive run chases at home, they fell short three times in the group stage.
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