Australia wary of Afghanistan at U19 WC

Australia's focus has turned from the unearthing a potential spin star to the threat posed by Afghanistan's ahead of their under-19 cricket World Cup semi-final.

Asian champions Afghanistan crushed hosts New Zealand in the quarter-finals by 202 runs, led by offspinner Mujeeb Zadran (4-14) and legspinner Qais Ahmad (4-33).

Monday's final-four clash in Christchurch is shaping as a battle of the slow bowlers after Australian legspinner Lloyd Pope claimed a tournament record 8-35 to prevent England chasing down Australia's 127 on Tuesday.

Qais leads the tournament for wicket-takers with 12 at 11.66, ahead of South Australian Pope has 10 wickets at 8.8.

The 16-year-old Mujeeb starred in last year's under-19 Asian Cup with 12 wickets from three matches.

Batsman Austin Waugh said Australia would be doing its homework on their opponents.

"It was obviously a great win, but we're now back to focusing on the Afghan game and looking for a big semi-final, pushing for a final spot," Waugh said.

"All the boys are looking for the next game to step up.

"We've obviously got a little bit of footage of them, but we'll be more keen on looking at that game yesterday.

"They've obviously got a couple of good spinners, so we'll be looking at the footage of them to see how they go about it."

Afghanistan are also a capable batting side, scoring 7-284 and 6-309 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand respectively when they have batted first in the tournament.

They lost to Ireland in the group stage.

Australia last played Afghanistan at under-19 level in a 2014 World Cup group-stage clash.

And it was Afghanistan who came out on top, beating a side featuring Ben McDermott, Cameron Valente and Billy Stanlake by 36 runs.