It was a fitting climax to what will go down as one of the most entertaining Cricket World Cups in history and there was no better place to watch it than in Mumbai itself.

You didn’t have to be at a stadium to find a vibe, you didn’t have to be an Indian supporter to know how much this meant to India and you certainly didn’t need any clichés talking about scripts and fairytale endings to dictate how Saturday was going to pan out.

The Proteas treated their supporters to yet another clinical performance as they crushed Bangladesh by 206 runs to send the co-hosts crashing out of the World Cup while South Africa rocketed to the top of Group B.

South Africa decided to rest Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and AB de Villiers, which might have given Bangladesh some hope.

Saturday 12 March was exactly five years to the day since South Africa completed that run chase against Australia. The ghost of 438-9 past came to visit the India and Proteas clash in Nagpur as the World Cup continued to entertain while supporters continued to age about 10 year. Omens all-round.

India won the toss and chose to bat. No surprises, really. And, as expected, it was the Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar show as the two combined for a first-wicket partnership of 142. Tendulkar notched up his 99th international hundred (that’s in both Tests and ODIs).

South African fans across the country experienced a mixed bag of emotions as the Proteas lost for the first time in their World Cup campaign as England clinched a six wicket victory.

Those who got up to catch the start of the action at 6am were treated to a superb spell of bowling by Robin Peterson as Andrew Struass, Kevin Pietersen and Ian bell all fell cheaply and England were in a spot of bother at 15 for three.

The Chevrolet Warriors booked their place in the Standard Bank Pr20 semi-finals after beating the Nashua Dolphins by four wickets in another last-ball thriller.

The Dolphins won the toss and chose to bat first at Kingsmead in Durban and Makhaya Ntini struck early to remove opener Cameron Delport for five. Some silly running saw Dolphin’s skipper depart just before the end of the fourth over and the home side looked shaky at 18-2.

The run rate ticket over slowly and the home side managed just 124 in their 20 overs thanks to some fine bowling by Ntini and Rusty Theron.

It was the Herschelle Gibbs and Richard Levi show at Newlands on Sunday as the Cobras’ openers helped the home side win the first leg of their semifinal against the Nashua Titans with ease.

The Titans won the toss and chose to bowl in the blazing Cape Town sunshine and Jacques Rudolph and Henry Davids looked in good touch as they notched up a fine partnership of 45. Johann Louw, however, had other ideas and he sent Rudolph stumps cartwheeling towards the end of the sixth over. He struck again just two balls later to send Davids on his way and leave the Titans looking shaky.