Complete guide to the Cricket World Cup finals

Righto, where are we at?

And then there were four. After a total of 45 group matches - including a few washouts - the top four teams will play in this week's semi-finals. The first semi-final at Old Trafford on Tuesday will see table leaders India take on the fourth-ranked New Zealand, and the second semi-final at Edgbaston on Thursday will see old rivals Australia and England facing off. The final is at Lord's on July 14 with all finals matches starting at 7:30pm AEST.

Image Id: E1347C3C0233447584126E13704D596B Image Caption: The 10 World Cup captains // Getty

How can I watch?

Kayo and Fox Cricket will continue their coverage of every World Cup game, broadcasting in high definition and ad-break free during play. Fox Cricket will run a 30-minute pre-game show featuring the likes of Mark Waugh, Andrew Symonds, Chris Lynn and Kerry O'Keefe in their Sydney studio, and the broadcast will also revert to the studio between innings. 

The Nine Network will broadcast free-to-air coverage of all the finals action on Nine or 9Gem - check your local TV guides as it will differ in each state.

Not signed up to Kayo yet?

Well, there's never been a better time, and you can enjoy the finals campaign with a 14-day free trial by clicking right HERE.

How about radio coverage?

The World Cup will be broadcast on ABC Radio, Crocmedia's SEN and Macquarie Sports Radio.

I want my scores online

Then you're in the right place. The cricket.com.au match centre and CA Live app will bring you live scoring from all 48 World Cup matches. 

What if it rains?

Fair question, the tournament is in England and Wales after all. The tournament will use the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method and all knock out matches have reserve days allocated, so if England really rolls out the summer weather clichés and the game can't be completed on the scheduled day, teams will be able to pack up and return the next day for both semi-finals and the final.

Super Overs?

If scores are tied in a semi-final or the final itself, we'll have a Super Over, which will see each team face six balls to score as many runs as possible. The team with the highest score at the end of the Super Over will be declared the winner.

WORLD CUP STANDINGS, NEWS, VIDEO and MORE

If conditions prevent a Super Over from being completed in the semi-final (including on the reserve day) then the higher-ranked team will go through to the final. If there's a tie in the final and there's no way to complete a Super Over, then we'll have joint winners.

The Super Over format is pretty standard. The team batting second in the match will bat first in the Super Over. The bowler can choose whichever end to bowl from, and each team gets one review. If two wickets fall, that ends the over. If scores are tied after the Super Over, the team that scored more boundaries (fours and sixes combined) in the match wins. And if that's still a tie, we have a countback from the final ball of the Super Over until one team scored more than the other off a delivery.

What else have you got for me?

How about unrivalled coverage from on the ground with the Australian cricket team, featuring regular exclusive insights from Ricky Ponting throughout the World Cup, plus all the latest news, analysis and highlights you could want? And from not just the World Cup but the extensive Australia A white- and red-ball tours, Women's Ashes and of course, men's Ashes Tests. Everything you'll want to know about the game of cricket to get you through the long, cold Australian winter, you'll find right here on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app. And if you aren't already subscribed to The Unplayable Podcast for the best cricket-related audio gear for your ears going around, do yourself a favour! 

Squads?

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa (Standby players: Matthew Wade, Mitchell Marsh)

England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

India: Virat Kohli (c), Mayank Agarwal, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor

Prize money?

Other than the love of the game, pride of representing their country and adoration of millions of fans, the teams are playing for some big bickies. The ICC have stumped up a US$10 million prize pool for the tournament, with the winning team to earn US$4 million. The runners-up will receive US$2million. Bow out at the semi-final stage and dry your tears with US$800,000. And for every match won in the group stage, teams will earn US$40,000.

Image Id: https://www.cricket.com.au/~/media/News/2017/06/17WorldCupSemiFinal1999?la=en&hash=85026725978C197678880F021905250D3FB62E36 Image Caption: No Super Over for the famous '99 semi-final

Over rate offences?

It's important to note that all captains started the World Cup with a clean slate, and no over rate demerit points hanging over from previous bilateral series count against them at this tournament. However, usual rules apply during the event itself and two 'minor' over rate offences will see a captain suspended for a match, or one 'serious' offence will earn a suspension of two matches. Kane Williamson is the only remaining captain on thin ice, having been found guilty of maintaining a slow over-rate in his side's tense win over West Indies earlier in the tournament. That means if New Zealand win their semi-final and Williamson is found guilty of another minor over-rate offence, he will be suspended for the final.

The ICC deems being one or two overs short of the over rate a 'minor' offence, and anything more is 'serious'.

Powerplays?

Stock standard stuff these days, but to be clear: Only two fielders are allowed outside the inner fielding circle for the first 10 overs, then no more than four fielders outside the circle between overs 11 and 40. The fielding captain can then have five fielders in the deep for the final 10 overs.

DRS?

The Decision Review System will be in use for the World Cup, with the same rules you're used to for regular ODIs: one unsuccessful review each per team per innings. An unsuccessful review causes the team to lose it, but if their challenge is successful, they keep the review. If the verdict is 'umpire's call' then the review is retained.

Mankad?

Non-strikers beware, Law 41.16 applies in the World Cup! And as was exposed during this year's IPL, non-strikers are still sneaking up the pitch during the delivery stride. But Ravi Ashwin isn't in India's squad, so we'll have to wait and see if anyone tries a Mankad dismissal at the World Cup.