U-19 World Cup: Australia beat South Africa to enter final

Townsville: Australia became the first side to seal a place in the final, after defeating South Africa by four wickets in the semi-final of the U-19 World Cup at the Tony Ireland Stadium. They now await the winner of the second semi-final between India and New Zealand.

The Aussies, who are also bidding to become the second side after Pakistan to win back-to-back titles, made a good start to the day when Will Bosisto won the toss and elected to bowl in overcast conditions.

Joel Paris and Mark Steketee then struck early with the new ball to remove South Africa’s in-form batsmen Quinton de Kock (1) and Gihahn Cloete (0).
Steketee returned for his second spell and took the crucial wicket of South Africa captain Chad Bowes (46) who had struck a handy partnership of 88 with Murray Coetzee (50), who went on to make his second half-century of the tournament before being run out.


Mark Steketee finished as Australia’s best bowler claiming 3/35 while Gurinder Sandhu finished with tidy figures of 2/23. In reply, Australia lost James Peirson and Meyrick Buchanan early, and were in deep trouble at 3/2.

However, Bancroft and Patterson both soaked up the pressure before Patterson was caught behind by de Kock for (49). Bosisto (40) then joined Bancroft (66), and the two put together a partnership worth 75 for the fourth wicket. There was a minor hiccup towards the end, as both batsmen ran themselves out, with some distance yet to cover.

Ashton Turner laid those butterflies to rest, with a four through extra cover to send his side into the final of the U-19 World Cup.
Australia will now wait for the winner of Thursday’s second semi-final between India and New Zealand. The final is scheduled to be played on August 26th.

Brief Scores: S/F- Australia beat South Africa by 4 wickets at Tony Ireland Stadium

South Africa 191/8 (Murray Coetzee 50, Chad Bowes 46, Mark Steketee 3-35)

Australia 193/6 (Cameron Bancroft 66, Kurtis Patterson 49, Will Bosisto 40)

Player of the Match: Cameron Bancroft (Australia)

Other Results: Play-off

England beat Bangladesh by four wickets at Endeavour Park 2

Bangladesh 217 for seven, 50 overs (Litton Das 102, Anamul Haque 56, Salman Hossain 26; Reece Topley 5-32)

England 218 for six, 48.2 overs (Ben Foakes 47, Sam Wood 46, Adam Ball 34 not out, Aneesh Kapil 33 not out; Taskin Ahmed 2-66)

Player of the match: Reece Topley (Eng)

Plate Championship: Play-offs

1) Afghanistan beat Scotland by 126 runs at Allan Border Field
Afghanistan 336 for seven, 50 overs (Javed Ahmadi 134, Najibullah Zadran 83, Afsar Khan 42, Abdur Mangal 31; Patrick Sadler 3-69, Aman Bailwal 2-81)

Scotland 210 all out, 39.4 overs (Mathew Cross 37, Peter Ross 34; Aftab Alam 3-63, Hashmatullah Shaidi 2-20, Yamin Ahmadzai 2-28, Sayed Shirzad 2-63)

Player of the match: Javed Ahmadi (Afghanistan)

2) Nepal beat Namibia by 39 runs at Peter Burge Oval
Nepal 219 for seven, 50 overs (Pradeep Airee 98 not out, Subash Khakurel 35; Chris Coombe 3-61, Shalako Groenewald 2-35)

Namibia 180 all out, 46.3 overs (Stephan Baard 56, Zhivago Groenewald 54; Bhuvan Karki 5-21)

Player of the Match: Bhuvan Karki (Nepal)

3) Papua New Guinea beat Zimbabwe by 12 runs at WEP Harris Oval
PNG 235 all out, 50 overs (Charles Amini 63, Lega Siaka 50, Dogodo Bau 30; Luke Jongwe 3-38, Kieran Geyle 3-44, Peacemore Zimwa 2-30)

Zimbabwe 223 all out, 49.1 overs (Luke Masasire 68, Kieran Geyle 42, Nyasha Mayavo 36; Kabua Vagi Morea 3-26, Chris Kent 2-26, Alei Nao 2-55)
Player of the Match: Charles Amini (Papua New Guinea)