Rew, Mayes lead England to victory; Mahboob, Sadat star for Afghanistan against WI
As a result of their second wins, England and Afghanistan sealed qualification for Super Sixes
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Jan-2026 • Updated 10 hrs ago
Thomas Rew finished on 86* • ICC/Getty Images
England 209 for 2 (Rew 86*, Mayes 77*, Mazvitorera 2-54) beat Zimbabwe 208 for 9 (Mudzengerere 45*, Lumsden 3-38, Farhan 2-33, Albert 2-49) by eight wickets
England have confirmed their place in the Super Sixes of the Under-19 World Cup 2026 after crushing hosts Zimbabwe to register successive wins in the group stage. Captain Thomas Rew (86*) and Ben Mayes (77*) led the chase of 209 in Harare. England asked Zimbabwe to bat first, and struck third ball as Alex French got Nathaniel Hlabangana for a duck.
From there onwards, each time a partnership looked stable for Zimbabwe, England hit back to disrupt their momentum. There were stands of 30, 45 and 32 for the second, third and fourth wickets, respectively, with Luke Hands, Farhan Ahmed and Ralphie Albert among the wickets.
All Zimbabwe batters from Nos. 3-6 scored at least 30 but none passed captain Simbarashe Mudzengerere's 45 not out. England's Manny Lumsden got three wickets.
In reply, England got off to a quick start. They were two down within seven overs, but had also scored 48. Rew and Mayes had got together on the fifth ball of that over, and their union remained unbroken on 167. Rew was the first to get to fifty off 30 balls by smashing Dhruv Patel for a six in the 18th over. Mayes got a run-a-ball half-century in the 22nd over, as England clubbed the final 64 runs in seven overs to win with a whopping 22 overs to spare.
Zimbabwe's loss came after their first game, against Scotland, was washed out. They face Pakistan next, and could find it tough to enter the next round.
Afghanistan 262 for 6 (Sadat 88, Mahboob 86, Pollard 3-39, Lawes 3-48) beat West Indies 124 (Andrew 57, Omarzai 4-16, Stanikzai 3-20, Wahidullah 3-36) by 138 runs
Contrasting half-centuries from Osman Sadat and Mahboob Khan set up Afghanistan's 138-run win over West Indies. They wrapped up the win when Nooristani Omarzai bagged his fourth wicket. With two wins in as many games, Afghanistan have locked in their Super Sixes spot.
After Afghanistan opted to bat, Sadat and Khalid Ahmadzai put on 86 for the opening wicket before Vitel Lawes, the sixth bowler West Indies used in 18 overs, created a brief stutter. He struck three times in eight overs as Afghanistan lost 3 for 24. Mahboob then steadied the ship in Sadat's company, adding 77 for the fourth wicket. While Sadat took 68 balls to get to his fifty, Mahboob got there in 54, before accelerating. Mahboob scored 36 off his next 15 balls as Afghanistan scored 79 off the last ten overs to post 262 for 7.
In reply, only Jewel Andrew, who has played eight internationals for West Indies' senior side, and 15 CPL matches, offered some resistance. He scored 57 off 70 balls, laced with four fours and three sixes, and was the eighth wicket to fall with the score on 101.
West Indies had lost their first four wickets inside 11 overs. While Wahidullah Zadran started the slide in the first powerplay with his offspin, seamer Omarzai's strikes through the middle overs was too much for West Indies, who were bowled out for 124.