Cricket World Cup 2015 Schedule: Updated Quarter-Final and Semi-Final Fixtures

Co-hosts New Zealand are expected to cruise past West Indies in the final quarter-final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The Black Caps finished the group stages undefeated, while the Windies qualified on the very last day with a win over United Arab Emirates. Inconsistency has been the team's biggest issue, something that hasn't plagued New Zealand at all.

Here's the schedule for the remaining quarter-final fixtures, as well as the upcoming semi-finals:

Match	Teams	Date	Time (GMT)	Venue
QF4	New Zealand vs. West Indies	March 21	1:30 a.m.	Wellington
SF1	South Africa vs. Winner QF4	March 24	1 a.m.	Auckland
SF2	India vs. Australia	March 26	3:30 a.m.	Sydney

Saturday's match between New Zealand and West Indies certainly looks among the most one-sided quarter-finals on paper, with plenty of fans already assuming the result is a foregone conclusion.

The Windies have so far disappointed during the tournament and had to rely on Pakistan beating Ireland to squeeze into the quarter-finals, while New Zealand have yet to show any real signs of weakness.

Phil Walter/Getty Images

Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy likened the clash to the famous boxing match between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas—a fight the unfancied Douglas won, of course, via Indo-Asian News Service (for Cricket Country):

"

It’s a big match but I remember some guy named Douglas beating Mike Tyson. It is a case of that on Saturday but we always believed from the time the tournament started that the first goal was to reach the quarter-finals and after that, you’re two knockout games away from a World Cup final. We’ve won two but it’s been a long time and New Zealand have not won any.

"

The Black Caps enter the contest with three bowlers ranked in the top 15 wicket-takers—Trent Boult, Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee—but remarkably enough, none of their batsmen crack the top 30 when it comes to batting average.

In fact, no fewer than four Windies' batsmen sport a higher average than Kane Williamson, who leads the Black Caps with 45.75. He underlined his form with a fantastic showing against Bangladesh, per scorewithdata:

"

Kane Williamson towers over the rest in the Player Performance card for #NZvBAN #IBM #scorewithdata #CWC15 pic.twitter.com/1hzpGlDq3G

— scorewithdata (@scorewithdata) March 12, 2015"

For New Zealand, scoring runs has been a team effort, with the likes of Martin Guptil, Corey Anderson and Ross Taylor supporting captain Brendon McCullum and Williamson.

Coupled with superb bowling—the team has five bowlers with an economy under five—and solid fielding, the Black Caps have easily chased down relatively low targets so far, as well as putting plenty of pressure on opposing batsmen when batting second.

And then there's the fan support. Every venue has been packed for New Zealand's group-stage fixtures so far, and the fans have been beyond loud. Grant Elliott can feel how the country stands with its team right now, via the side's official Twitter feed:

New Zealand is aching for World Cup success, and it reflects in how the team has played so far. This ridiculous defensive effort from McCullum was a nice example of exactly how far they're willing to go:

But that pressure can have the opposite effect as well, and if there's a silver lining to West Indies' poor run so far, it's that no one is expecting or demanding them to beat the Black Caps.

The batsmen in particular will be free to just play their game and not worry too much about the consequences, and the likes of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels are at their best when they can just swing for the boundary and play at ease.

Ultimately, Saturday's clash will likely come down to New Zealand's bowlers. Their form has been immaculate up until this point, and if they can keep it up, it's hard to imagine a scenario where West Indies can score enough runs to put real pressure on the likes of McCullum and Williamson.

Don't write the Windies off just yet, however. Cricket is a crazy game, and with so much at stake, anything is possible.

All statistics courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo.