SA U-19s ‘itching’ to start World Cup challenge against India

The South Africa U-19 cricket team are ready to begin their long-awaited ICC U-19 men’s Cricket World Cup challenge in the West Indies with a match against India on Saturday.

The Group B match-up gets underway at 3pm South African time at the Providence Stadium in Providence, near Georgetown, the capital of Guyana.

South Africa will also take on Uganda in pool play on Tuesday before a clash against Ireland next Friday.

Junior Proteas captain George van Heerden said on Friday the players were excited about the tournament finally starting.

“To be honest, I have never played games with so much rest time before in my life,” said Van Heerden, “so two to three days between games is quite a lot and for us. We are just so keen to get out on the park now, having been here for such a long time with the tour against the West Indies before this.”

After competing in last year’s Cricket South Africa (CSA) Provincial T20 Knockout Competition against professional players, the SA U-19 team travelled to the West Indies for a four-match Youth One-Day International series in testing conditions in the Caribbean.  

The SA U-19s then played two warm-up games, including an inter-squad game after their first match against Australia was postponed, before another contest against the West Indies to end what have been demanding preparations for the players.

Coach Shukri Conrad said the youngsters, who are first up against the runners-up from 2020 and winners in 2018, were ready for action.

“The mood in the camp is really good and we are just itching to get on the park.  Everybody is in a good space, both from a skills point of view and from a psychological point of view. We haven’t really seen them (India) … we watched a little bit of their warm-up game yesterday and I don’t see them as favourites. We know they are a very good side and are probably a dangerous side, but so are we.”

South Africa’s 2022 Cricket World Cup Group B Fixtures:

• All matches will get underway at 3pm SA time

Saturday, 15 January: India vs SA U-19s (Providence Stadium, Providence)

Tuesday, 18 January: SA U-19s vs Uganda (Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain)

Friday, 21 January: SA U-19s vs Ireland (Brian Lara Cricket Stadium, Tarouba)

South Africa Under-19 Squad:

George van Heerden (capt, Warriors), Liam Alder (Lions), Matthew Boast (KZN Inland), Dewald Brevis (Titans), Michael Copeland (Boland), Ethan Cunningham (Western Province), Valentine Kitime (Titans), Kwena Maphaka (Lions), Gerhard Maree (Free State), Aphiwe Mnyanda (Warriors), Andile Simelane (KwaZulu-Natal Inland), Jade Smith (Warriors), Kaden Solomons (Western Province), Joshua Stephenson (Warriors), Asakhe Tshaka (Western Province)