ICC U-19 World Cup: England Outclass Afghanistan To Cement Place In Final

England kept their nerve to become the first team to reach the ICC Under 19 Men's Cricket World Cup final after edging a thriller with Afghanistan by 15 runs. Spinner Rehan Ahmed became the hero for the Young Lions, taking three wickets in the penultimate over at a 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.

Rain delayed the first of the two Super League semi-finals at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground after England won the toss and chose to bat.

Once both sides were eventually able to take to the field in Antigua and Barbuda it was Afghanistan who made the stronger start.

Jacob Bethell, who lit up the quarter-final tie with 88 against South Africa last week, was trapped LBW by Naveed Zadran, an early sign that England faced a difficult task.

Skipper Tom Prest then joined vice-captain Bethell in making an early departure, reducing them to 2-56, as the Young Lions struggled to command with the bat.

George Thomas did steady the ship with an excellent 50 after a slightly nervy introduction at the crease, only beaten by an excellent delivery from Noor Ahmad.

And when William Luxton was clean bowled by Izharulhaq Naveed, Prest's team was five wickets down having barely put 100 runs on the board.

However, the rain came again to delay play for a further half-hour and led to revised conditions of 47 overs per side.

England's back-end partnership of 95 from George Bell and Alex