England have qualified for their first U19 World Cup final since 1998, doing so via a nervy win over an Afghanistan side who have been one of the most consistent nations at U19 level in recent years.

Success at U19 level is hardly an accurate predictor for success in senior international cricket. While five of the England squad in 1998 went on to play for the senior side, only Graeme Swann really excelled at that level for a prolonged period of time; on the other side of the coin, a reasonable chunk of the squad faded away from the professional game soon after their triumph.

That said, U19 World Cups have also been littered with statement performances from future international superstars. Eoin Morgan is the leading run-scorer in the competition’s history and is followed closely by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. Shikhar Dhawan’s 505-run haul in the 2004 competition is the most by a player in an single edition of the U19 World Cup, while Shubman Gill, Mehidy Hasan, Aiden Markram, Tim Southee, Cheteshwar Pujara and Yuvraj Singh are all previous winners of the player of the competition award.

Here, we take a look at some of England’s star performers on their way to the final:

Josh Boyden

County: Lancashire
Age: 17
Role: Left-arm seamer
U19 WC bowling stats: 13 wickets @ 9.53; ER: 3.17

A skinny left-arm quick, Boyden has been a constant wicket-taking menace all the way through the tournament. He set the tone in England’s tournament opener against defending champions Bangladesh, taking 4-17 to help bowl out the Tigers for just 97. In the semi-final, Boyden held is own brilliantly at the death, conceding just six runs from his final two overs to hold off Afghanistan in a narrow victory.

Rehan Ahmed

County: Leicestershire
Age: 17
Role: Leg-spinner
U19 WC bowling stats: 12 wickets @ 9.91; ER: 4.57

Ahmed – one of a number of players in the England squad with county first team experience – made a name for himself online prior to the tournament after a big-turning googly of his in a pre-tournament warm-up game went viral. His raging googly has perhaps been the ball that has most defined the tournament thus far. Ahmed has taken four-fors in all three of his appearances thus far, most notably against Afghanistan where he bounced back from an indifferent opening spell to take three wickets in the penultimate over to suck the life out of the run chase.

Jacob Bethell

County: Warwickshire
Age: 18
Role: Batting all-rounder (left-arm spinner)
U19 WC batting stats: 203 runs @ 40.60; SR: 110.32
U19 WC bowling stats: Five wickets @ 26.40; ER: 4.00

Five of the seven England players to bat at least thrice in the competition have strike rates over 100 and Warwickshire’s Barbados-born all-rounder is arguably the pick of the lot. Bethell is extremely highly rated at Edgbaston, making 12 appearances across all three county formats as a 17-year-old in the 2021 summer. His 42-ball 88 against South Africa in the quarter-final was one of the knocks of the tournament. A crisp timer with a straightforward technique, it’s easy to see why he’s so highly regarded. His 10 overs with the ball cost just 26 runs in the semi-final.

Tom Prest

County: Hampshire
Age: 18
Role: Batting all-rounder (off-spinner)
U19 WC batting stats: 292 runs @ 73; SR: 103.91
U19 WC bowling stats: Five wickets @ 24.40; SR: 4.00

Another with a reasonable amount of county first team experience given his age. In 2021, Prest caused waves after hitting a triple-hundred for Hampshire seconds before winning a Player of the Match award for an unbeaten 59 in a T20 Blast game against Gloucestershire. He’s England’s leading run-scorer in the tournament so far and was impressively calm in his role as captain in the closing stages of the Afghanistan game, with his call to entrust the leg-spin of Ahmed with the penultimate over paying off in some style.

George Bell

County: Lancashire
Age: 19
Role: Batter
U19 WC batting stats: 131 runs @ 65.50; SR: 102.34

Bell’s unbeaten half-century against Afghanistan was superb, first steadying the ship after his side fell to 92-4 before putting his foot on the gas to help accelerate England towards a more competitive total. His 95-run partnership with Glamorgan’s Alex Horton changed the game.