India to face England; Australia to lock horns with South Africa in semi-finals of Women's Under 19 World Cup

Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], January 30 (ANI): The fixtures for the semi-finals of the ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup 2025 have been confirmed, with defending champions India set to play against England on Friday.

South Africa will take on Australia in the first semi-final on the same day, as the ICC announced the dates, times, and venues for the knockout stages of the tournament.

Both matches will take place at Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur, with the first semi-final between South Africa and Australia scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM local time, and the second semi-final between India and England set to start four hours later at 2:30 PM local time, as per ICC.

The winners of both semi-finals will then meet in the final at Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, February 2, starting at 2:30 PM local time.

Here's a look at what can we expect from both of the semi-final games:

South Africa v Australia:

Australia has bowled brilliantly throughout the tournament, with Lily Bassingthwaite being the standout, boasting six wickets and an economy rate of 2.22. They will be hoping their top-order batting starts to fire.

They will need to be in prime form for this clash. The group stage was straightforward for them, beating Scotland and Nepal easily before a closer contest against Bangladesh, and they followed that up with a good win against West Indies in the Super Sixes.

They already knew they were through to the semi-finals before they played Sri Lanka in their last Super Six match, which may have contributed to them becoming the only semi-finalists to be beaten in the tournament.

South Africa have been hampered by rain throughout the tournament, and have not played a full 40 overs so far. It is difficult, then, to assess their true form, but then it will be equally tricky for opponents to prepare for their batters, considering they have batted for fewer than 27 overs in their four matches combined.

The bowlers have done exactly what has been required of them, with captain Kayla Reyneke leading the way, taking nine wickets with an average economy rate of 4.03. But the knock-out stages will prove a sterner test than they have faced thus far.

India vs England:

Defending champions India are favorites to retain their crown, with a nine-wicket win over West Indies, an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh, a 60-run win over Sri Lanka, and a 150-run win over Scotland. But now they face England, who have made their way past several big obstacles to get this far, beating Pakistan by six wickets, the USA by eight wickets, and New Zealand by six wickets.

India has some stand-out shining stars - most notably Trisha Gongadi at the top of the batting order and the superb Vaishnavi Sharma, with 12 wickets already in the tournament including a hat-trick.

England will be hoping to remove Trisha as soon as possible and then have their fingers crossed that the India middle order and tail have not had the match practice to fend off their own fine bowling attack, led by spinner Tilly Corteen-Coleman, who has taken seven wickets so far.

With the bat, Davina Perrin has been England's best performer, with 131 runs to her name, and she will seek to add to that total. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)