Scenarios: What New Zealand, Australia, England, and Sri Lanka must achieve to get to the semi-finals

The hosts will need to consult their calculators, whereas England has the significant advantage of having played last.

With only three games remaining, England's victory against New Zealand guarantees that there are still plenty of qualifying opportunities in Group 1. Here's a breakdown of what each team needs to achieve to advance to the semi-finals.

New Zealand

Played: 4, Points: 5, NRR: 2.233, Match remaining: versus Ireland (Adelaide)

Despite the loss to England, New Zealand is still in a good position to qualify. Any margin of victory in their last game against Ireland should suffice. Even if they win by one run, Australia will need to win by 152 runs and England by 95 runs to overtake New Zealand's great net run rate (NRR), which is now at 2.233.

If New Zealand loses to Ireland on Friday, they will have to pray that Australia also loses to Afghanistan. Then, unless they lose by a significant margin, New Zealand will qualify with the winner of the England-Sri Lanka encounter.

England

Played: 4, Points: 5, NRR: 0.547, Match remaining: versus SL (Sydney)

England has the same number of points as New Zealand and Australia. Their NRR of 0.547 is higher than Australia's -0.304 but far lower than New Zealand's 2.233. If all three clubs win their remaining games, it will undoubtedly come down to NRR. As previously said, New Zealand is well advanced in this regard.

If Australia scores 180 and defeats Afghanistan by 60 runs on Friday, England must defeat Sri Lanka by at least 10 runs on Saturday to maintain their lead in the NRR. That implies the margin of victory must be greater than 50 runs for England to maintain its lead. From England's perspective, they will know exactly what they need to accomplish when they play their last group game.

If England loses against Sri Lanka, they will very probably be eliminated even if New Zealand and Australia lose their last games, because they are much behind New Zealand on NRR, and in such a situation, Sri Lanka will be ahead of the lot on points. 

Australia

Played: 4, Points: 5, NRR: -0.304, Match remaining: versus Afg (Adelaide)

As previously stated, if all three sides win their final games in the group, Australia will be in an unfavourable NRR struggle with New Zealand and England. What they would much rather have is for Afghanistan to lose and at least one of New Zealand or England to lose their last game. They will then qualify without the use of NRRs.

However, because they play on Friday, before England's game against Sri Lanka, Australia will need to win large. If they chase a target of 120 in 12 overs, for example, England will need to hunt down 150 in about 17.5 overs to slip ahead on NRR. All of this implies that there will be a lot of calculators out this weekend.

Sri Lanka

Played: 4, Points: 4, NRR: -0.457, Match remaining: versus Eng (Sydney)

Sri Lanka is the only team in this group with a same amount of points. They can only qualify if they beat England and at least one of New Zealand or Australia loses their last game. If their game against England is called off, Sri Lanka will be eliminated since their NRR is so far below New Zealand's.

IreLand

Played: 4, Points: 3, NRR: -1.544, Remaining match: vs NZ (Adelaide)

Ireland will not only need to beat New Zealand, but they will also need to win by about 105 runs to pass them on NRR. Aside from that, they will have to pray that Australia loses against Afghanistan, because one of England or Sri Lanka will undoubtedly advance beyond five points. In other words, Ireland's best hope is to assist one of the other teams in their effort to qualify.