I WAS unaware that this will be the first time since 1992 England have reached the semi-final of the cricket World Cup.

I did not know it had been that long. They reached the final in that year but we won’t mention what happened (Pakistan won).

With the final four of the tournament decided it is time to admit that the best four sides of the past year have reached the semi-finals.

Cricket fans are a unique bunch in that we have a whole load of statistics and figures in our heads. We are unlike any other sports fans in the world.

Pakistan did go on a bit of run and were unlucky (unless some miracle happens by the time this is printed) not to have reached the final four.

I was contacted by a few people who thought that the tournament was fixed and teams had conspired to ensure Pakistan would not reach the next round.

The idea is that we are just not part of the cricketing elite.

I do like conspiracy theories in general as they can offer a less painful explanation as to how things have gone against you when the truth is too much to stomach.

The fact it boiled down to two things. Firstly, the team lost their first game against to West Indies, a team everyone else, barring Afghanistan beat. And secondly, a rained off match against Sri Lanka may have cost them a valuable point. On the plus side England have a good chance now to beat India as the latter don’t look as fearsome as they did a few weeks back.

England have had a torrid time over the years in tournaments and I think this is best opportunity to win the world title.

What I do find sad is that the World Cup has not made it on to terrestrial television for everyone to enjoy. If not live the highlights to some of the bigger matches should have been played before 9pm. We had some thrilling games replayed at midnight.

It reminds of the time they used to put Indian movies on TV late into the night. Because that’s the best time to play them.

The Women’s World Cup though was a welcome surprise.

I did have to explain to my boy that we should not forget the time when we played the Blackburn Rovers girls’ team some years back. They may have been a year older than my 10-year-olds but beat us comfortably. It was a good lesson in life.