It is particularly satisfying as captain to bounce back after the loss against South Africa and come through in two must-win games to make the semifinals. We knew after the South Africa game that we had to beat two different sides on, as it turned out, two different surfaces at the same ground. To make 315 against Sri Lanka and then bowl England out for 146 on a Wanderers track, meant two good all-round displays, and we will take some confidence going into the semis.

What makes the last few days even more satisfying is that we have had to play without key players in Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Daryl Tuffey. It is becoming something of an unfortunate trend with us in big tournaments; it happened at the World T20 in England as well.

At one level, it doesn't matter who plays, but it will be interesting to run into Pakistan in the semifinals. We have lost to Pakistan several times in the semifinals of major competitions, and it will be nice to rectify that notorious reputation.

We will be playing our semifinal at the Wanderers on Saturday, and a lot really depends on the kind of wicket we get. In our two matches here, we have had to play on two different pitches, but at least we have had the experience of having played on both of them.

A lot has been made of our decision to call back Paul Collingwood.

The good thing was that because it went to the third umpire and we had time to deliberate. We wanted to get on with the game and not tread through a minefield if we had decided to uphold the appeal, because it was obvious that Paul was not looking for a run.