World Cup 2023 Scenarios: How England can qualify for the semi-finals

England are having a tough time so far in the World Cup 2023. The defending champions began their campaign with a defeat to New Zealand and have won only one game so far, beating Bangladesh by 137 runs. Besides the Kiwis, they have also lost to Afghanistan and South Africa. With just one win from four matches, Jos Buttler-led side is currently in the ninth position with two points in the 10-team table. The only team behind England in the points table is Bangladesh. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table So is it all over for England? The answer to that question is no. Thanks to the round-robin format of World Cup 2023, England and all of the teams are still alive in the race for the semi-finals. Each team is required to play nine games in the first stage of the World Cup and England and other teams like Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have five matches more to go while India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have played five each so far.

Australia and the Netherlands are playing their fifth match respectively on Wednesday. What do England need to stay alive in the semi-final race? England’s next game is on Thursday against Sri Lanka which will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. All-rounder Moeen Ali feels that England lacking their usual aggressiveness is a major reason behind them not doing well in the tournament so far. “We’ve been playing aggressive cricket since 2015 and done it quite well. I think the lack of that way of cricket has probably cost us a little bit in this tournament. I think we need to play that way, but without slogging the ball, but just be that really aggressive side that we know we can be,” Ali said in the pre-match press conference before the Sri Lanka game. Ali is right and while England will look to play with a bit more fight, here are the scenarios for them in the race to the World Cup 2023 semi-finals: Win all matches: If England win all five matches from hereon, they will have 12 points. For that, they will have to beat teams like Australia and Pakistan who are also fighting for the semis spot and that should hopefully be enough for England to qualify. However, there is no guarantee. Win four out of five matches: New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup qualified for semis with just 11 points. So it’s possible the fourth team into the 2023 semis would just have five wins but there’s a good chance the net run rate (NRR) will decide the progress in such a scenario and England currently have the second-worst NRR in the tournament. Losing two matches more: If England lose two games, it will mean elimination. Four wins can only take them to eight points and in all probability that will not be enough to finish fourth in the table.