England reached the final of the Women’s Under-19 World Cup with a thrilling three-leg victory over rivals Australia.
In a low-scoring semi-final, England successfully defended 99 all outs at Potchefstroom to earn a final berth against India, who beat New Zealand earlier.
Australia lost the opening wickets but looked in control at 56-4 before their last six wickets fell for just 40 runs.
Hannah Baker played for England with 3-10 from her four overs.
“We’re all absolutely thrilled,” Baker said. “We really thought halfway through that we could still win and the first two wickets gave us even more confidence.
“We knew if we kept the stumps in play we could continue to cause problems and we supported each other very well on the pitch.
“There is still a huge game – it’s so special to have made it to the final – but we have to give it our all in one last game to hopefully win the trophy. It was an amazing competition, and we have so much learned, but there is one more challenge ahead and that is our focus now.”
After winning the coin toss and going for the bat, England were down to 45-7.
Alexa Stonehouse compiled a gritty 25 as they headed for 99 before they were all knocked out in the 20th.
In what turned out to be a low-scoring nail-biter, Australia stumbled in their pursuit – but needed just eight to win from 18 balls with two wickets in hand.
However, Milly Illingworth was exhausted in search of a quick single, before Maggie Clark was tricked by Grace Scrivens into the next to seal England’s progress.
England now face India, who beat New Zealand by eight wickets, in the final at the same venue on Sunday (11.45 GMT).
In the group stages, England finished top of group two with four wins from four, while India topped group one ahead of Australia.
Commentary from the final will be available on BBC 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, and there will be live text commentary on the BBC Sport app.
