Pakistan, West Indies Qualify as Ireland Are Knocked out on Day 30

The group stage is finally over at the World Cup. After what seemed like a million matches, we now know who the eight quarter-finalists are.

Sunday’s action centred around which nations would fill the remaining two spots from Group B, with both India and South Africa already through.

West Indies put themselves in pole position to go through with a six-wicket win over the United Arab Emirates at McLean Park in Napier, New Zealand.

Captain Jason Holder claimed four for 27 while Jerome Taylor picked up three wickets as the UAE were bowled out for 175.

The men from the Caribbean knew they needed to knock off the runs before they had faced 36.2 overs to seal their progress (barring an unlikely tie in the game between Pakistan and Ireland).

Johnson Charles and Jonathan Carter duly hit half-centuries as West Indies cruised home with nearly six overs to spare.

Pakistan then made sure both they and West Indies would go through to the next round with a seven-wicket win over Ireland in Adelaide, Australia.

Sarfraz Ahmed hit an unbeaten 101 to steer the 1992 champions past their opponents' total of 237. It meant William Porterfield’s century ended up being in a losing cause, with the Irish missing out on finishing in the top four on run rate.

Shot of the Day

Plenty of sixes were struck on Sunday, but Sarfraz gets the award for the boundary that took him through to his maiden ODI century.

The wicketkeeper, who was rather strangely left out of Pakistan’s team for their first four matches, came down the pitch to loft spinner George Dockrell over mid-wicket.

Sarfraz rightly celebrated reaching the milestone, but it had taken some rather farcical batting to give him the opportunity to get there.

Umar Akmal hit four boundaries on his arrival to the crease to rush Pakistan toward their target, only to go completely into his shell to make sure he didn’t deny his team-mate getting his hundred.

Catch of the Day

There weren't too many remarkable catches during Sunday’s action, with West Indies not helping matters by bowling six UAE batsmen in Napier.

However, Shahid Afridi did produce a smart grab to get rid of centurion Porterfield in Adelaide.

The experienced all-rounder is yet to have a big impact on the tournament—with either bat or ball—but showed he can still contribute in the field.

Having made good ground moving forward from his position at mid-on, Afridi dived low to pluck a poorly timed drive out of the air just before it was about to hit the ground.

Delivery of the Day

West Indies’ opening pair of Holder and Taylor were outstanding with the ball against the UAE.

Winning the toss allowed them to bowl first in what was a must-win match, and the duo relieved any potential nerves by quickly reducing the ICC Associates to 46 for six.

Holder bowled his 10 overs straight through, though he just fell short of claiming his first five-wicket haul in 50-over cricket.

Taylor, meanwhile, produced the best ball of the day. Having just driven the seamer for four previously, Khurram Khan was bowled emphatically by a full ball that knocked leg stump clean out of the ground.

Ross Setford/Associated Press

Irish Eyes Still Smiling

Their team may have missed out on a place in the quarter-finals, but Ireland’s fans were still immensely proud of the players' efforts in Australia and New Zealand over the course of the last month.

They recorded victories over West Indies, Zimbabwe and the UAE, yet did not quite do enough to progress beyond the first hurdle.

Stat of the Day

Next at the World Cup

The tournament takes a short break ahead of the quarter-finals. The first knockout tie takes place on Wednesday, with the full schedule as follows: