A number of players who are set to feature in the 2025 edition of the women's Under-19 World Cup have already made headlines for some unique facets of their game. Here, we pick five players to keep an eye on during the tournament, which begins in Malaysia on January 18.
Caoimhe Bray (Australia)
A seam-bowling allrounder like her role model Ellyse Perry, Bray became the youngest to feature in the WBBL late last year when she was just 15. She marked the occasion by dismissing Deandra Dottin and then hitting the winning runs for Sydney Sixers.
She had come into the spotlight after amassing nearly 1000 runs in the New South Wales Under-18s competition in 2024, which included a double-century in the final. Last September, she made her Australia Under-19s debut in a tri-series, where she hit 84 and picked up 4 for 20 against New Zealand.
Bray has also represented Australia's junior football team as a 14-year-old at the AFC Women's Under-17 championships in Indonesia.
Tilly Corteen-Coleman (England)
A left-arm spinner who dismissed Meg Lanning on her Hundred debut as a 16-year-old, England's Corteen-Coleman has come through the ranks following an impressive initiation in domestic cricket, where she picked up four wickets in four deliveries for South East Stars in the Charlotte Edwards Cup.
She followed that up with an impressive outing at the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy in 2024, where she picked up nine wickets in eight games as South East Stars finished runners-up.
Corteen-Coleman has already gained valuable experience in Asia, having represented England Under-19s in Sri Lanka last year.
Niki Prasad (India)
As a 15-year-old in 2021, Prasad hit Deepti Sharma for towering sixes at a club tournament in Bengaluru, and there was a buzz around her in the cricket circles in the city. But a departure from her aggressive game to try and bat longer pushed her down the pecking order after she was initially in the running to play in the inaugural edition of this World Cup in 2023.
Over the past 18 months, Prasad has rediscovered her big-hitting abilities through dedicated power-hitting sessions as well as a transformation in her fitness routine. In 2025, she will lead India as they hope to defend their crown. She is one of five players from the current India squad to have been picked up in the latest WPL auction; Prasad will play for the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals.
Karabo Meso (South Africa)
Set to play in her second Under-19 World Cup, Meso is seen in South Africa as the natural successor to incumbent wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta.
Meso comes from a family with a sporting background. Her mother played netball and her father played softball. Meso herself started off as a prodigious track-and-field athlete before shifting to cricket and choosing the big gloves. She earned a maiden national call-up for the home series against Sri Lanka last April, and has subsequently featured in two T20Is.
Her eight dismissals and superb glovework at the previous edition of the tournament was noticed when she was picked in ICC's team of the tournament despite South Africa not making it past the Super Six stage.
Limansa Thilakarathna (Sri Lanka)
Daughter of former Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Melbourne-raised Limansa, an Australian national, wants to be a legspinner like another famous Victorian, the late Shane Warne. In 2021, she became the youngest female cricketer - at 12 - to play at the premier level, when she was chosen for Cricket Victoria's Under-16 squad. She currently represents Melbourne Cricket Club.
Limansa's Australian nationality has caused debate within Sri Lankan cricketing circles, but the selectors have stuck to their decision of picking her citing her all-round abilities - she bats left-handed and in the top four, apart from being a legspinner.