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South Africa defeated Australia by five wickets in the first semi-final and secured their spot in the Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup final for the first time thanks to a four-wicket haul from Ashleigh van Wyk and a blistering 24-ball 37 from opener Jemma Botha. Australia chose to play in sunny Kuala Lumpur, and they were immediately at a disadvantage when quick bowler Nthabiseng Nini trapped Ines McKeon leg before wicket on the opening delivery. At the bowler's end, skipper Lucy Hamilton's punch bounced off Nini's fingers onto the non-striker's stumps, and Grace Lyons, who had been promoted up the order, was run out after backing up too far. The South African bowlers, Hamilton and Caoimhe Bray, were cautious and stuck to a wicket-to-wicket line. Only halfway through the fifth over did Australia score their first boundary, but Hamilton soon added a couple more off Nini. Then South Africa's skipper, Kayla Reyneke, missed a sweep and hit in her opening over, putting her opposite number in front of the stumps. Australia failed to score a boundary in 7.3 overs while South Africa put on a spin strangle. In 47 balls, Bray and Eleanor Larosa combined for 27 runs for the fourth wicket. After Larosa was dismissed by a spectacular return catch by Seshnie Naidu, van Wyk took charge and destroyed the Australia lower middle order, taking four wickets in three overs. For Australia to reach 105 for 8 on a strong batting strip, Ella Briscoe's undefeated 17-ball 27 was essential. It wasn't anticipated that South Africa's pursuit would be easy against an Australian attack that hadn't given up more than 100 points during the tournament. But Botha wasted little time. Botha started out by hitting back-to-back fours against Larosa in the opening over, batting far down the track to nullify any movement. A Chloe Ainsworth in-ducker quickly defeated Simone Lorens, who also began with a four. However, Botha was unstoppable. South Africa quickly reached 50 for 2 in six overs thanks to he

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have appointed former Indian All-rounder S Sriram as their assistant bowling coach in anticipation of the 2025 Indian Premier League. At CSK, Sriram becomes part of a coaching staff that includes bowling consultant Eric Simons, batting coach Mike Hussey, and head coach Stephen Fleming. Sriram provides a plethora of coaching knowledge from a variety of coaching levels. He essentially takes Dwayne Bravo's place at CSK, since the former joined the reigning champion Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor. In order to concentrate on his job with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), he gave up his position as Australia's assistant coach in 2016 and departed it in 2022. Prior to the Asia Cup and T20 World Cup, Sriram was also named Bangladesh's T20 consultant in August 2022. He returned to Bangladesh, this time as a technical consultant, prior to the ODI World Cup, and joined the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in September 2023 as assistant coach for the 2024 Indian Premier League. R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Gopal, and Noor Ahmad are the front-line spinners in CSK's IPL 2025 lineup, while Deepak Hooda and Rachin Ravindra are all-around spin bowlers. Last year, CSK finished fifth with seven wins and as many losses in the 14 group games, missing out on playoff qualification. Despite being tied with fourth-place RCB on 14 points, CSK just missed qualifying for the final four due to their lower net run rate. The IPL 2025 season starts on March 22, with the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) playing RCB in Kolkata. The next evening, CSK plays their opening match at home against the Mumbai Indians (MI).