YESTERDAY saw the semi-finals of the 2025 Under 19 World Cup take place, and although some teams saw déjà vu, it was not always for positive reasons.

South Africa vs Australia

Australia has crashed out of the Under 19 World Cup at the semi-final stage for the second edition in a row, this time losing to South Africa by five wickets. Australia was restricted to just 8/105, before South Africa then reached that target with 11 balls to spare in its innings.

In hindsight, losing a wicket on the first ball of the innings was a sign of things to come for the Australians. It set the tone for the rest of the innings as the slow start proved costly.

For the South Africans Ashleigh Van Wyk was the star with the ball with four wickets, before Jemma Botha smashed 37 off just 24 balls. Meanwhile for Australia, Caoimhe Bray was the pick of the batters with 36, before Hasrat Gill and Lucy Hamilton took a pair of wickets each.

India vs England

India has reached its second Under 19 World Cup final in a row after defeating England by nine wickets in the other semi-final. In a replay of the 2023 final, England was restricted to 8/113 from its 20 overs, before India sped its way to the target in just 15 overs.

India only needed to go at about five and a half runs an over to get the win, but were going as much as about seven runs an over halfway through the chase.

Vaishnavi Sharma and Parunika Sisodia took three wickets each for India, while Aayushi Shukla took a pair of them. Later Kamalini G struck 56 off 50 balls to help steer her side home.

Meanwhile for England Davina Perrin got her side off to a good start with a 45 run innings at the top of the order, but the rest of the team just could not carry that momentum. Phoebe Brett then went on to be the only English bowler to take a wicket.