Cricket World Cup History: Ranking the top three semi-finals in World Cups

#1 Australia vs South Africa (1999)

Australia vs South Africa

This match definitely went down as one of the greatest ODI matches in cricket history. It all started in the Super-Six match between Australia and South Africa when Herschelle Gibbs dropped Steve Waugh at short mid-wicket, who went on to score a match-winning century that kept them alive in the tournament. This win enabled them to finish second in the Super-Six stage, setting up a semi-final clash against the same team. Having won the toss, South Africa opted to field first in bowling friendly conditions.

Australia could only manage 213 runs with contributions from Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan. Chasing this, South Africa were in deep trouble after losing four wickets with just 61 runs on the board. Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes stitched a partnership that helped them recover.

With South Africa needing more than 40 runs, Kallis departed. Lance Klusener, who was in fine form, added valuable runs to the team with some big hitting. In the final over, they needed nine runs to win with just a wicket left. Klusener scored two consecutive fours in the first two balls that almost guaranteed them a win.

On the fourth delivery, Klusener steered one to the mid-off fielder and ran without looking at the non-striker. Allan Donald was in no position to run, lost his bat mid-way and got run out as the match was tied.

Australia qualified for the final in the most dramatic fashion on the basis of higher standing on the World Cup points table.