Australia U19 vs England U19, 1st Semi-Final (A,D1 v B,C2), ICC Under 19 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

That's it for this one. England through and Australia out. Tomorrow we will know who the other finalist will be. Do join us for that one. For now there's plenty of cricket going around the globe. Catch all of them. Bye bye.

Thomas Rew | England captain: (How's the change-room?) Yeah, they're buzzing, nervy game, great game of cricket, but I think to get over the line there, just credit to our bowlers at the end, really, but yeah, it's a great feeling. (Things done well) I think we just got all bases covered with our squad. It's a great team. Everyone's stepped up throughout the tournament. Like we've got Mayesey leading run-scorer and Manny leading wicket-taker, and that means a lot. So yeah, I think we just kept bringing this confidence into today and luckily it paid off today. (On bringing spinners later into the attack) I felt like it was a slightly better wicket. It seemed, from what I felt, batting, I found it a bit tougher. So I wanted to keep seeing him on for a little bit longer and then keep Farhan and Ralphy, who are great spinners, keep them a little bit later, use their overs a little bit more at the death. (India or Afghanistan, who would you fancy playing in the final?) We're not far, but we'll turn up on Friday and give it our all. But yeah, I'm just excited to be there.

Oliver Peake | Australia captain: Feeling a bit better physically now, but very disappointed with the result. I think sometimes you're just outplayed, and that was one of those days where the English guys took it on with the bat. To their credit, Rewy and his partner were batting really well through the middle. And, probably showed us the way to do it. (what might have you done differently?) There's always something you could do differently, especially after a loss. They really showed the way with the ball at the start of their bowling innings. Maybe bowled a touch shorter than us, and I think they got the most out of the wicket that they could. And then always like little angles and stuff that maybe we're a bit slower to fix up, and that's on me. But no, to their credit, they played a full array of shots, and sometimes they just have their day. (Was there belief till the end?) Yeah, of course. I think any time you have a designated batter, that's still out in the middle, you have full faith until the end. To their credit, they bowled quite well at the death, strangled us through the middle. And yeah, I think 20 too many going into our batting innings, it was probably always looking that way. It was going to take some serious chasing to come over the line. But, full credit to those guys. (On this tournament) I think the boys will take heaps away. I saw incredible improvement from when we got here to now. And I think being exposed to all different conditions and stuff as well is invaluable. Really, really proud of everyone. It's been a great group. Bit of a foreign feeling losing, but no, if there was a way to go out, this is probably the way.

Thomas Rew | Player of the Match: Yeah, I think it's a great feeling. Just spoke to the boys and said just enjoy this, that's a great game of cricket and one that reflects the tournament so far. I think the way that Ollie batted there was incredible. But yeah, to get over the line, it feels special. (On his batting) We felt it was a pretty good wicket. I think myself and Caleb put together a great partnership. Credit to him, I think he batted superbly there. We just focused on batting time. Trying to be there for the 30th over and then onto the 35th. And, luckily it came off today. (on understanding the conditions here) A little bit. I feel like this wicket today was a lot better than the previous two we've played on here. We adapted early. There's some good comms upstairs and we said, look, let's aim for above 250. But it's always something we like to have wickets in hand going into the backend. So yeah, I think we did that well today. (on his mindset) I definitely wasn't too calm. Yeah, a bit nervous at the end, but I think I backed our bowlers. That's what we're trained for, to nail those yorkers at the backend under pressure. And that's what they did today. So yeah, fair play to them.

17:13 Local Time, 15:13 GMT, 20:43 IST: So nice to see each and every England player go to Oliver Peake and shake his hand after the game was done. Just three contributions from Australia and one of them was their skipper Peake which was a fantastic battling 100. The rest were from Samuels and Aryan Sharma but that was not enough. Peake struggled with cramps on his right leg and barely could run at the end. He still tried to take his side over the line but it was too much to do. Just needed support from the others which he failed to find. All the 6 bowlers from England were among the wickets and they all chipped in. Their fielding was outstanding as well, matching Australia's earlier in the day. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

James Minto to Oliver Peake, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

England win. Waiting to see who took the catch. It's a clean catch and there's no doubts.

The physio out there. Stretching Oliver Peake's right hand. Probably cramp. A sip of water for the Australian skipper. A break in play.