England hold nerve in thriller against Afghanistan to reach U19 WC final

England players celebrate their 15-run win over Afghanistan in the U19 World Cup semi-final

England kept their nerve to become the first team to reach the ICC Under19 Men’s Cricket World Cup final after edging a thriller with Afghanistan by 15 runs (D/L method) at North Sound.

Spinner Rehan Ahmed became the hero for the Young Lions, taking three wickets in the penultimate over at crucial point when their opponents needed just 18 runs from the last 10 balls.

England will now face the winner of the other semi between Australia and India on Saturday in the final – a remarkable turnaround from the previous tournament just two years ago in South Africa when they finished ninth.

As for Afghanistan they will head to the Coolidge Cricket Ground for the third-place playoff.

Scores:

England (U19): 231-6 (47) (George Thomas 50, George Bell 56*, Alex Horton 53*, Naveed Zadran 2/67, Noor Ahmed 2/32)

Afghanistan 215-9 (47) (Mohammad Ishaq 43, Allah Noor 60, Abdul Hadi 37*, Bilal Ahmed 33, Noor Ahmed 25, Rehan Ahmed 4/41, Thomas Aspinwall 2/37)