South Africans crash and burn

2006-02-24 09:41

The South African Under-19 World Cup hopes ended with another defeat to Nepal in the semi-finals of the plate section in Sri Lanka. It was the second time the South Africans crashed to a defeat at the hands of the small country north of India.

In the previous World Cup the South Africans also lost an Under-19 game to Nepal which stunned many cricket followers.

Their spinners were the difference in both the defeats they inflicted on the South Africans and this indicates that even at junior level the South African batsmen struggle to master the spinners.

On the positive side the two young South African spinners Jean Symes and Richard Das Neves bowled particularly well and were let down by the batsmen not being able to chase down a reasonable target.

The team had coaching staff of the calibre of Ray Jennings and Anton Ferreira as the technical analyst to call on and they must have been disappointed with the results of the team.

In all fairness the team lacked the big names of the past SA Under-19 sides when the likes of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Albie Morkel and Thami Tsolekile featured in the teams.

All of these players have gone further and represented the Proteas with distinction but they had a tough time at the World Cups for the Under-19 age groups too.

Players on the move

Players from Sri Lanka and India who have also moved through the Under-19 set up into the international stage are Yuraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Upal Thuranga and Maharoof to mention just a few.

This tournament thus provides the opportunity to young cricketers to show off their talent and use it to kick-start their international careers. The Under-19 World Cup is held every two years which gives top schoolboy cricketers that much needed motivation to aim at making it to this event.

The Australians who everyone in world cricket measure themselves against did not produce many of their international players through the Under-19 World Cups.

Their players tend to be more mature and older when they step into the international scene and they do not have the same number of young players making their debuts.

South Africa have not won the title yet but was runner-up to Australia during the 2001/2002 season when the competition was held in New Zealand.

They won the Plate competition in Sri Lanka during the 1999/2000 season and did not have much success in recent years.

The successful teams of the past have produced some of today's Proteas and I hope that this conveyor belt keeps producing the likes of AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla at international level but also supplying the core of the first class cricketers in this country.

Brett Kopps, Davey Jacobs, Brendan Reddy, Steven Cook and Ryan Maclaren are all established franchise player and were in the team that lost to Australia in the final in New Zealand.

Other players that comes to mind recently represented the SA Under-19 team are Vernon Philander, Jaco Booysen and Vaughn van Jaarsveld who are also representing various teams in the domestic leagues.

Let us hope this tournament will continue to be a production line for South African cricket in the years to come.

Shafiek Abrahams is a former Proteas spinner.

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