ODI World Cup digest: Afghanistan push for semis; New Zealand, Pakistan and Australia prepare for must-win games

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Netherlands were undone by four run-outs, a stumping and a spin chokehold in Lucknow, as Afghanistan improved their outside chances of making the semi-finals with a fourth win in seven games, this time also boosting their net run-rate along with it.

Their 111-ball win chasing 180 was swiftly wrapped up courtesy contributions of 52 from Rahmat Shah and 56 from Hashmatullah Shahidi, but the meat of the action took place in the first half where Afghanistan bowled well in parts, but were helped along the way by regular errors from Netherlands.

Pretend you're an Afghanistan selector. You're licking your lips at the fantabulous array of spinners you can call upon for a World Cup in the subcontinent.

There's the GOAT white-ball leggie who's become so good now that teams consider it a win if they go at four an over against him and only cede the odd wicket; so good that eight years after his international debut, thousands of hours of video dissection later, we're still only guessing which one's the googly.

New Zealand vs Pakistan is one of the games with extremely high stakes left in the league stage of the World Cup. Till some days ago, it looked like the four semi-finalists were locked in, with New Zealand in there and Pakistan just out. Things have changed since.

The turn for the worse for New Zealand has been dramatic. After four wins on the trot at the start of the league stage, form has fallen by the wayside, and defeats (three in a row) and player injuries have mounted. As number of their players are nursing injuries at the moment - though they trained in Bengaluru on the eve of this game - a couple more results not going their way could mean New Zealand dropping out of the top four.

New Zealand (possible): 1 Devon Conway, 2 Will Young, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (capt & wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 James Neesham, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Tim Southee/Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult

Pakistan (probable): 1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Iftikhar Ahmed, 7 Agha Salman, 8 Shadab Khan/Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Mohammad Wasim, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Haris Rauf

Suffice to say, this is not the occasion it was earmarked to be. England versus Australia at the back-end of the group stages, at the most grandiloquent venue that this World Cup can offer. This was intended, at the very least, to be a shoot-out for the semi-finals, and maybe even a dress rehearsal for a yet more significant showdown at this same venue further down the line.

And long, long ago, when Australia were the team sitting rock-bottom of the World Cup standings after back-to-back losses to South Africa and India, England might even have assumed that this would be their opportunity to land the final smackdown on their oldest foes.

How the worm has turned since then. Australia have gone on to win four from four, while it's England who have spent the past fortnight circling the drain. Somehow, they go into this contest with a 0.4% chance of reaching the knock-outs - but the fact that they aren't dead yet despite five losses in six only goes to show how loaded towards the established teams this format really is.

Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Marnus Labuschagne, 5 Josh Inglis (wk), 6 Marcus Stoinis, 7 Cameron Green, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Josh Hazlewood

England (probable): 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (capt, wk), 6 Moeen Ali / Harry Brook, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 David Willey, 10 Mark Wood, 11 Adil Rashid