Defending champion Australia has been eliminated from the Under-19 World Cup 2026. In the first semi-final of the tournament, it had to face defeat at the hands of England. England, the runner-up for 2022, won by 27 runs on the basis of a brilliant century by its captain Thomas Rieu and made it to the final. Thomas Ryu not only got his name written in the record books with this century, but also broke Australia's dream of winning the title for the second consecutive time. Not only this, he has also given England a chance to end the drought that has been going on for 28 years.
in Bulawayo on Tuesday 3rd February Under-19 World Cup 2026 In the first semi-final, England scored a strong score on the strength of its captain. England, batting first, scored 277 runs losing 7 wickets in 50 overs, in which captain Thomas Rieu proved to be the top-scorer. Apart from him, no batsman from England could even score a half-century. After 3 wickets fell for just 60 runs, Ryu took the lead and took the team to this score. Thomas Ryu, who came to bat at number four, started batting at number four.
The English captain made a partnership of 135 runs with Caleb Falconer. This partnership took England close to 200 runs and here captain Ryu scored a memorable century. The English captain completed his century in 97 balls, which was his first century in this World Cup. This century proved to be memorable for Thomas Ryu (110) as he became the first England batsman to score a century in the semi-finals of the Under-19 World Cup. However, he was out in the 43rd over, due to which England could not touch the score of 300. For Australia, Hayden Schiller took 2 wickets for 31 runs.
Australia also had a bad start and the team lost 2 wickets for 47 runs. Like Thomas Rieu, Australia captain Oliver Peak also took the lead for his team. Peak first managed the innings by making a partnership of 62 runs with Nitish Samuel, but as soon as the wicket fell, the innings started faltering again. Oliver Peak was standing firm from one end but the number of batsmen supporting him was decreasing.
When Australia's score was 208 runs, the team's 8th wicket also fell. In such a situation, defeat seemed certain but the Australian captain was not ready to lay down his arms. This left-handed batsman raised the hopes of the team by hitting a six and 4 fours in 5 consecutive balls in the 46th over and himself came close to his century. But the 9th wicket fell on the very first ball of the next over. Battling injury, Captain Peak completed his second consecutive century in just 85 balls but it was not enough to lead the team to victory. As soon as Peak (100) was out, the Australian team collapsed for 250 runs.
