England and Afghanistan finished the group stage of the ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup with a perfect record after beating Scotland and Tanzania respectively on Wednesday.
Both teams will enter the Super Six with wind in their sails, making them one of the contenders to advance to the semi-finals and beyond.
Here’s how the two matches panned out:
England beat Scotland by 152 runs
Scotland put England in after winning the toss and tasted early success with the wicket of Ben Dawkins in just the third over.
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However, Joseph Moores and Ben Mayes put the Scotland attack to the sword with an aggressive 188-run partnership. Moores departed after a 65-ball 81 but Mayes carried on to pile more runs as he scored a breathtaking 191 from just 117 deliveries.
Mayes’ score was the joint second-highest individual score in U-19 World Cup history and the best-ever by an England batter in the tournament’s history.
The 18-year-old scored 26 boundaries (18 fours and 8 sixes) but fell one run short of Viran Chamuditha’s record-high individual score.
Sebastian Morgan played a fine cameo towards the end of the England innings, smashing 24 off 11 deliveries to take England past 400. They finished with 404/6 in their 50 overs to post the highest team total in the 2026 edition so far.
Scotland were always up against it and their task was made even harder when opening batters, Theo Robinson and Thomas Knight were dismissed in quick succession.
Finlay Carter and Max Chaplin added some runs in the middle order but it wasn’t enough to keep Scotland in the chase. Scotland folded for 152 to hand England a 252-run victory.
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England finished top of Group C with the victory and will feature in Group 2 in the Super Six. Scotland will now need Pakistan to beat Zimbabwe to ensure they qualify for the Super Six stage.
Afghanistan beat Tanzania by 9 wickets
Tanzania won the toss and opted to bat first but faced an inspired Afghanistan bowling attack that didn’t allow the Tanzanian batters any breathing room.
Wahidullah Zadran and Nooristani Omarzai got rid of the openers inside the first three overs with Tanzania still stuck at a score of five. Ayaan Shariff and Rehaan Salim stitched a brief partnership before Khatir Stanikzai came to the party and got Afghanistan their third wicket.
Salim batted on with Augustine Mwamele and later with captain Laksh Bakrania but Nooristani and Uzairullah Niazai ensured that no Tanzanian partnership proved too expensive for Afghanistan.
Nooristani bagged a fifer, to wrap up the Tanzanian innings for just 85 in 36 overs. His five-wicket haul took his tournament tally to 10 wickets in three matches.
Afghanistan were largely untroubled during their chase as Faisal Khan’s 34-ball 54 took his team to victory inside 13 overs.
The win means Afghanistan have finished top of Group D and will be part of Group 1 in the Super Six. Tanzania have been eliminated after the loss to Afghanistan.
