England U19 vs New Zealand U19, 10th Match, Super Six Group 2 (B,C), ICC Under 19 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

Australia, Afghanistan and England have qualified for the semifinals. It's between India and Pakistan for that last remaining slot and that game will finalize the actual SF line-ups. India of course have two extra points than Pakistan. For them, even if they lose it's about ensuring the defeat isn't big as they can still advance thanks to a superior NRR. For Pakistan, they not only need to beat India, but need to win big. If India beat Pakistan, their semifinal will be against Afghanistan. If India lose and still qualify, they will then play Australia in the semifinal. If Pakistan advance, England will play Afghanistan in the semifinal, while Australia will play Pakistan. So lots to look forward to on Sunday. We will see you all again nice and early. Take care!

So to put it in simple words. The team that assessed the conditions better won the game. It was a dry pitch, expected to misbehave, take turn and get tougher for batting. But New Zealand chose to bowl. England were happy to bat first because they wanted to challenge themselves. New Zealand used Reddy quite late and regretted the call seeing how effective he was since introduction. England meanwhile took their learnings from the batting, kept it wicket to wicket and won the game.

Thomas Rew | England captain: (Winning on a tough pitch) Yeah, definitely. I think that's a great result for us. Really proud of the way that we stuck at it with the bat. I think Caleb and Maisie in particular, they grinded. It was a tough wicket, and to get us up to that total, we were in a good place at halftime, and then the way that the seamers bowled there, I thinnk it was an incredible performance all around. (The biggest challenge on this pitch?) Just the bounce, so inconsistent up and down, but a bit of spin as well, mainly from wide and when it was a bit slower. But the way that the boys dealt with that, I think it was incredible. And then we used the bounce to our advantage, hit hard lengths and tried to keep it top of the ball for as long as possible. (Asked if he drives what is a good score on a particular pitch) Not really. I think it comes from all of us as a group. We all adapt quickly, and I think that's the key, playing on different wickets. So, yeah, the way that we adapted out there, and we knew that 300 wasn't going to be a good score. It was going to be more like 230, 340, and that's what we got in the end. So, yeah, proud of the effort from the boys. (On Manny Lumsden) Yeah, incredible. He's been good the tournament. He's bowled quick. He's been aggressive, and that's just what we ask from him. I think having some firepower like that in our squad is a great asset. (On making it to the smifinal) Nice to win today and know that we're through. We'll still be watching Sunday, but, yeah, I think looking forward to the semi-final.

Tom Jones | NZ captain: We thought it was going to play pretty consistently all day It's got better throughout, through what we've seen in the tournament. And yeah, I guess it probably just broke up a bit and became really tricky and went up and down. So I mean, I guess it was tricky all day. (On restricting England to 234) We were really proud of our bowling effort. We asked our bowlers to go to another level today and we felt they did. And we were always confident. And I guess it's been the story of our campaign that we haven't quite put it together for long periods with the bat. (On the batting department) There's been a lot of talk about the group having a lot of talent. And we know that. I think just we want to apply pressure on the bowlers. We just haven't got our moments right in terms of picking our times to apply and then knowing when to absorb that pressure and take a game deep. We sort of have been a bit guilty of that at times. We're obviously not stoked with how our campaign's gone, but there's so many learning to take out of it as a group and as individuals. I know there's a lot of guys in that dressing room who will have long careers and that's what we're hoping for. And hopefully they've got a lot to take out of what they've learned over the last month. ZImbabwe has been amazing. We've loved it. Great country.

Manny Lumsden | PoTM: Yeah, it's a lovely, lovely feeling. Great feeling. Feels amazing. Nice to contribute to win there and get five wickets on the board, which is nice. I feel good. I think it's just keeping the stumps in play with the variable bounce, especially if you see the last couple of wickets there, ball was keeping low. It's just keeping discipline on the lines. It'll bring something to play and get the reward eventually, which is nice. It'll bring something to play and get the reward eventually, which is nice. (On being the enforcer) Yeah, yeah, it's quite natural for me. I've been doing that for quite a while now, so nice to do that back at home as well. So quite natural to fit well with my game. (On making it to the semifinals again) Yeah, yeah, definitely. We have won the five games that we've played, so it feels amazing. All the boys have been terrific, really well throughout the group stages, throughout the Super Sixes. Really good performance from everyone and absolutely chuffed. (On having a good relationship with the captain) Yeah, I think everyone in our team is really tight, really close. That's a very, very good thing. And he sort of lets you know you're bowling quite early on and you can get loose and try and take a wicket or affect the game with those first couple of balls. So yeah, really good.

16:29 Local Time, 14:29 GMT, 19:59 IST: Clinical from England. They assessed conditions and realized this isn't a batting beauty. Took their time and ensured they put a par score on the board. They backed themselves with the ball as they had a good bowling attack. They reduced New Zealand to 64/4. Reddy put on a determined show but he wasn't getting good support. Sandhu and later on Burns showed some fight - something New Zealand needed from the top and middle orders. The spinners were expected to rule the show but with the ball misbehaving so much off the same length, the England pacers kept it simple and shared 8 wickets between them. Lumsden wanted to end the show early and he rattled the tail with three wickets in the same over to ensure they join Australia and Afghanistan in the semifinals. The exact order of the SFs can only be determined after India's game with Pakistan on Sunday.

Manny Lumsden to Hunter Shore, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Manny Lumsden to Harry Burns, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Manny Lumsden to Jaskaran Sandhu, THATS OUT!! Caught!!