In an incredible, nerve-jangling 49-run victory at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur (Dhaka), a vivacious New Zealand booted a high-strung South Africa out of the ICC Cricket World Cup on Friday night. A typically Kiwi scrapping batting effort to get to 221, followed up with extraordinary fielding, crunch bowling and invigorating self-belief culminated in South Africa plummeting to the dreaded choke in the crucial frontier which they have never breached. Poor running, ill-conceived shot-making and weak-kneed batting from South Africa contributed to a rash of wickets to allow New Zealand, abetted by an effervescent Jacob Oram, to do a complete volte face after the South Africans were cantering along at the 20-over stage.

In deference to the Mirpur wicket's frictional nature, both teams gathered up their spin resources, leaving out the pacer each. While South Africa left out Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Wayne Parnell and Morne van Wyk, reinstating AB de Villiers on glove duty and brought back their primary fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, New Zealand, essaying a path not usually tread by them, brought in Luke Woodcock as a third spinner, in place of seaming all-rounder James Franklin. On a pitch garnished with a smattering of grass that New Zealand Captain Daniel Vettori felt was merely of “aesthetic value”, the Black Caps chose to bat first. It was a good toss to win given the cracks, which were expected to break up as the day progressed, that adorned the surface.

The England selectors have called up England and Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid to the England World Cup squad following approval from the ICC event technical committee. Rashid, who is currently in the West Indies with England Lions, will replace Michael Yardy following his decision to withdraw from the squad with depression. Rashid is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on Saturday.

Yardy becomes the fifth player to be replaced in England's squad – although Eoin Morgan subsequently returned as a replacement for the injured Kevin Pietersen.

India emerged victorious in the battle of the giants, defeating Australia by 5 wickets in the quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad. Batting first, Australia made their way to 260/6 on the back of a fantastic century by skipper Ricky Ponting, playing in what will most likely be his final World Cup match. The score was par for the course, and India chased it down with a little more than 2 overs to spare courtesy half-centuries from Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and easily the player of the tournament, Yuvraj Singh, who took India home with an unbeaten 57 in addition to picking up two vital wickets. India now run into arch-rivals Pakistan at Mohali in what promises to be the mother of all semi-finals.

Australia won the toss and predictably decided to bat first on the dry wicket of Motera. The summer had announced its arrival in recent matches and had sent temperatures rising to around 40 degrees. The 22 yards in the centre were expected to play an important role and had two vastly contrasting ends with a bit of dry grass rolled in at one and bare patches to support the spinners at the other. Australian captain Ricky Ponting mentioned a score of about 250 to be a good total to defend but with the Indian batting line up they would remain in danger with whatever they put on board. The Indian batting line up was strengthened with Virender Sehwag recovering from his knee injury, but young left-hander Suresh Raina kept his place in the team at the expense of the hard-hitting Yusuf Pathan. Australia resorted David Hussey to the middle-order to strengthen their batting and give themselves an extra off-spinning option with Steve Smith making way.

Pakistan catapulted themselves into the semi-finals, 1999 having been the last time they made it so far in a World Cup, with a comprehensive 10-wicket win over a lifeless West Indies at Mirpur on Wednesday. West Indies were wrecked by spin, and after they had slipped to the third-lowest total in this World Cup, the Pakistani openers cantered their way to the paltry target of 113 in just 24 overs. With the flamboyance of this victory, Pakistan can head into the semis with powerful optimism!

West Indies seemed to have missed a trick right up front with questionable team selection. While their pre-match quandary had to do with how to incorporate Shivnarine Chanderpaul ceteris paribus, given how indispensable the rest of the side seemed, it was strange that certain key players were dropped any way. Andre Russell, who would have been quite at home on the slow track and provided a handy batsman in the lower order, was left out so that Ravi Rampaul, who had a five-for from his last outing, could be retained. While the efficacy of including the bouncy Rampaul on a low track such as Mirpur's was doubtful, the dropping of left-armer Sulieman Benn, who has had 11 wickets so far and had led the rout of Bangladesh in the group stages on this very pitch, was even more confusing. Surely the fact that Benn had been wicketless for the last two matches was not reason enough to forgo his advantage on a pitch such as this and against a team full of right-handers.

South Africa have unleashed a new brand of cricket both on and – equally important – off the playing field. For this reason more than any other they have a very real chance of going all the way at the business end of the Cricket World Cup when they start the knock-out phase with their quarter-final against New Zealand at Mirpur on Friday. They have broken the character mould that typified previous campaigns and replaced it with a style of play that is innovative, imaginative, unpredictable and, above all, requires a full input from all 15 members of the squad.

The Proteas could afford to go in with an all-pace attack in Australia in 1992 and again in England in 1999 because both the conditions and the ODI style of play of that era allowed it. But the modern game assumes that most sides are pretty even when it comes to big-hitting runs scorers. What is clearly making the difference now is the ability of teams to bowl sides out or at least cause them to lose sufficient wickets to make it impossible for them to launch all-out attack in the last 10 to 15 overs.

The Sussex all-rounder Michael Yardy has been withdrawn from England's World Cup squad suffering from depression and has returned to the UK ahead of England's quarter final match against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

The decision was taken in close consultation with the England medical team after it was agreed Yardy should return home immediately to receive the best possible advice and support as he seeks to overcome an illness he has been managing for a prolonged period of time.

Statistics released today suggest that the record-breaking ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is set to be remembered as the most entertaining and unpredictable in the history of the event.

The cricket record books during the course of the event have had to be rewritten as a series of long-standing records, both in the history of the tournament and ODI cricket, have been shattered through a series of thrilling matches.

These are just some of the statistical highlights to be achieved during the course of the tournament:

With the group matches completed today, the fixtures and venues have now been confirmed for the knock-out stages of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Dhaka will host the first match of the Quarter-finals with Pakistan taking on the West Indies on Wednesday. Co-hosts India are at home in Ahmedabad for the big game against Australia on Thursday, and the winner of those two games will compete in the semi-final in Mohali on Wednesday the 30th of March.

New Zealand then face Group A toppers South Africa in Dhaka on Friday, 25th March, while Sri Lanka meat England at home in Colombo in the last of the quarter-finals on Saturday, 26th March. The winner of those two games will square off in the first semi-final also in Colombo on Tuesday, 29th March.