Indoor Cricket World Cup Day 4 Wrap

Australia will finish the preliminary rounds of the 2009 Indoor Cricket World Cup atop the standings in both the men's and women's divisions after yet another fine performance in Brisbane on Wednesday, but the jockeying amongst the other nations for the remaining positions in the finals is heating up.

The Australian men's and women's teams extended its unbeaten run at the tournament to seven matches with victories over New Zealand in the morning session and South Africa at night.

The men claimed all four skins in their 67-run win over New Zealand, but risked suffering their first loss of the tournament after setting a modest total of 69 against South Africa.

The visitors appeared to be coasting towards an upset win after reaching 41 at the end of the sixth over, but a disastrous batting collapse ensured Australia would prevail by 30 runs in a pulsating and at times heated encounter.

Daniel McLauchlan finished with the striking figures of three for negative-15 in a thrilling match that saw Lyle Teske act as stand-in captain in the absence of regular skipper Troy Gurski, who was rested.

Teske, captaining Australia for the first time in his illustrious career, was thrilled to walk away with three skins in the come-from-behind victory.

"We really had our backs against the wall and we just dug deep and came away with a great win," Teske said.

"The boys have got so much self-belief now that we can pretty much defend whatever we get."

"We're guaranteed top spot, so that's what we were striving for at the start of the week, but that's only one goal, we've got the semi final and the final."

The result means the hosts are guaranteed top spot and the resultant double chance in the finals, but just who it will face in Friday's major semi final remains undecided.

New Zealand (25 points from six games) and South Africa (22 points from seven games) will potentially play off for second place when it clashes on Thursday night.

New Zealand captain Tim Papps was not in a mood to talk finals after his side dropped two skins in their 39-run defeat of England on Wednesday.

"Australia deserve to be top of the heap, it has played well all week and proven once again it is the top side here," Papps said.

"Whether it be Australia or South Africa or England (that we meet in the finals), we're not worried, we're just looking forward to our next game against Sri Lanka tomorrow morning."

The Australian Women defeated New Zealand by 24 runs in a tight tussle before splitting the skins 2-2 in its 35-run win over South Africa.

Skipper Jude Coleman claimed figures of 2-3 before hitting a match-winning quarter-century, but was frustrated by her side's lack of discipline when bowling.

"We were happy to get top spot, but we weren't so happy with our performance tonight," Coleman said.

"They (South Africa) love to drive and we just over-pitched to them, or we were too short, and that's a little bit disappointing that we didn't learn from the other day."

Olivia Mango sustained a niggling injury and is unlikely to play against Wales in Australia's final pool game on Thursday.

The Welsh women provided one of the major upsets for the week with its 47-run disposal of England, a result that boosted the unheralded side into fourth spot on the standings.

It is now in the box seat to enter the finals while, as is the case with the men, South Africa (28 points from six games) and New Zealand (24 points from six games) will clash on Thursday in what is likely to be a playoff for the double chance in the finals that comes with second place.

The Australian youth sides also continued to shine on day four.

The 16 & Under Boys are yet to drop a single skin, and like the 19 & Under Girls and 19 & Under Boys, are sitting atop its respective standings