Ken Borland

South Africa have twice been runners-up in the U19 Cricket World Cup but will be aiming to go all the way this year when the tournament gets underway in Queensland, Australia, on August 11.

South Africa finished second in 2001/02 and 2007/08 in a tournament that has been dominated by three-time winners Australia, Pakistan and India, who have both claimed the title twice. Sub-continent teams have traditionally been tough to beat and Ray Jennings’ charges have been drawn in the same group as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Jennings, a vastly experienced coach at junior level, certainly did not over-state his team’s chances when he spoke to supersport.com at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria on Wednesday.

“You never really know how good cricketers are when they’re 18 or 19, so it’s very difficult to say how good our team is. I know how volatile the U19 picture is around the world and the tournament is very unpredictable. Six or seven teams have a chance to win and it’s all about how we handle the pressure on the day,” Jennings said.

While Jennings is satisfied that his team has the talent to go that one step further than their predecessors, it all depends on what sort of conviction they take to the field.

“Consistency is the big issue and that’s because you’re dealing with guys who haven’t totally matured yet. But we played Pakistan, who have beaten everyone else in the world, in January and we were 3-2 up in the series going into the final game, scored 280 and lost on the final ball. So according to that, we can definitely win the tournament,” Jennings said.

It’s also encouraging that Pakistan have just beaten Australia at home in a warm-up series, but the SA U19s have suffered a major blow before their departure for Queensland with an injury to fast bowler Rabian Engelbrecht, the only member of their squad who has previously played in a Junior World Cup.

“Rabian has a lower back strain and it’s not looking good. I’ll have to give him a fitness test before we leave tomorrow, but our most experienced player may well be out,” Jennings said wistfully.

The best known member of the team is hard-hitting Highveld Lions wicketkeeper/batsman Quinton de Kock and Jennings called for greater application from the prodigiously-talented U19 Cricketer of the Year.

“In terms of his talent and ability, Quinton has not had the returns he should have. He’s done very well for his franchise and he’s a highly-skilled, quality cricketer who is able to turn games. But he needs to come to the party for us in the big games. He also needs to work harder on his wicketkeeping, which is merely adequate at U19 level,” the renowned hard-taskmaster said.

There will be no easy introduction into the tournament either for South Africa, with Bangladesh their first opponents on August 12.

“Bangladesh are very difficult to beat, they’re a lot better at U19 level than their senior team is. In fact, the sub-continent teams have always been a problem for us, they’re very moody and unpredictable, with strange types of players that are very different to what the guys normally come up against. And we’ve lost to Sri Lanka three out of the last four times we’ve played them. It’s the death pool with only two of us qualifying for the quarterfinals,” Jennings warned.

Namibia are the other team in South Africa’s group and the minnow neighbours should be seen off without too much difficulty, although the shock defeat to Nepal in 2005/06 will ensure the Junior Proteas are not complacent.

“We have a great team, we’ve had lots of preparation, we’ve bonded well and the team dynamics are good. It’s a huge opportunity for us to showcase our skills on the world stage and we have the potential to take on and match any side,” Chad Bowes, the captain, said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/under19-world-cup/news/120801/SA_U19s_looking_to_go_one_better

The Willowton Group, through their Sunfoil brand, announced a massive increase in their sponsorship of cricket on Monday via a four-year deal that covers all first-class long format games, including home Tests.

Sunfoil became a sponsor during troubled times for Cricket South Africa last year, stepping in to back the Test series and ODIs last season when not many other corporates were interested. But with CSA’s reputation almost back to its best, the sunflower cooking oil brand has increased its sponsorship to R14 million a year, seven times as much as the previous deal.

“A lot of people thought that we were a one-season wonder and that was part of our motivation to continue our sponsorship. We wanted to show that we were not just catching things on the cheap, we’re in cricket for the long haul and it’s all about giving back for us,” Shoaib Moosa, the sales and marketing director of the Willowton Group, told supersport.com at the sponsorship announcement at the Wanderers on Monday.

Sunfoil will also play a major role in domestic cricket, and will sponsor both the four-day franchise competition and the three-day amateur tournament.

SuperSport have been the sponsors of the four-day tournament for 16 years, the SuperSport Series replacing the old Castle Cup in the 1996/97 season, and CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul praised the broadcasters for not standing in the way of their wish to bundle all long-format cricket together.

“We have to thank SuperSport for allowing us to take this sponsorship to Sunfoil because we wanted to group all the long-format cricket together. SuperSport have been a wonderful supporter of South African cricket and they will continue to be our broadcasting partner,” Faul said.

Brandon Foot, SuperSport’s head of acquisitions and legal said: “SuperSport is very proud to have sponsored the SuperSport Series and to have contributed to this important nursery of test match cricket. As the World of Champions steps aside from this role, SuperSport remains committed to CSA as its production and broadcast partner in all formats of the game, both domestically and internationally. SuperSport will also retain its interests in franchise and other cricket in South Africa.”

The Willowton Group also have a rich history of involvement in development cricket with their highly successful township programme in KZN being extended to Gauteng last year, while their cash for boundaries incentive in the 2011/12 tests raised R700 000 for their bursary fund, which now supports over a dozen children.

“The fruits of our involvement in cricket are seen where it matters most – at grassroots level – and hopefully we can produce some top-class cricketers from our development programme. But I will be happy even if we produce one doctor because of our bursaries and provision has been made for this programme to be expanded on a national level,” Moosa said.

The Pietermaritzburg-based businessman admitted that his company’s involvement with the senior national team had certainly benefited Sunfoil as well.

“Twelve months ago, if you asked the public, no particular brand of cooking oil would have come to mind. But now, the exposure and awareness and turnaround in volume of Sunfoil has been absolutely amazing and has assisted us in our goal of becoming the market-leader in South Africa,” Moosa said.

The success of that initial sponsorship deal means long-format cricket now has passionate backers from the Proteas down to the amateur teams, not forgetting Sunfoil’s key role at junior level as well.

Having secured yet another major vote of confidence in the way they have set about restoring the faith of corporates, Cricket South Africa are now looking for someone to take on another hugely valuable property in their twenty20 rights, both domestically and internationally, including for the Proteas team sponsor. The South African national team will provide a wonderful shop window in the ICC World T20 in Sri Lanka in September, with the normal rules being relaxed to allow sponsors’ names on their shirts.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-cricket/news/120730/Massive_increase_in_test_sponsorship_for_CSA

Wayne Parnell is unlikely to be in any trouble with Cricket South Africa over allegations he took recreational drugs in India, CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul told supersport.com on Monday.

Parnell, who was in India playing for the Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League, was arrested in Mumbai in May during a police raid on a rave party. He and Indian spinner Rahul Sharma were, along with nearly 90 other people, given drug tests and, on July 20, television stations in India reported police had confirmed positive tests for the duo.

But Faul said CSA’s efforts to get official confirmation of these reports had so far been in vain.

“We’ve been trying to get official word from the BCCI and Indian police, but so far we’ve got nothing. The Indian police haven’t yet laid a charge against Wayne,” Faul said.

Faul added that for CSA to take action against the international they would need far greater evidence than what has currently been made available to them.

“To take action against Wayne will be next to impossible at the moment because the whole process over there has been shambolic. The police are talking to some sections of the media but not to the cricket boards, the whole testing procedure was not done according to the standards that normally apply in sport and Wayne would be able to contest any action we take with absolute ease,” Faul said.

Parnell, who has always claimed his innocence and said he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, has allegedly tested positive for marijuana and will more than likely base his defence on the passive smoking principle i.e. other people at the party were smoking marijuana and he breathed some in just by being in the same room.

Parnell celebrates his 23rd birthday on Monday and the news that CSA are unlikely to take any action against him will be a great present ahead of a crucial summer for the left-arm paceman.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120730/Parnell_unlikely_to_be_in_any_trouble

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Doctors are “cautiously optimistic” that Mark Boucher, the most prolific wicketkeeper in Test history, will regain sight in his left eye, his general practitioner said in a statement released on Thursday.

Boucher, who was hit in the eye by a bail in the first match of South Africa’s tour of England, underwent his second operation this week, but his doctors said it was still too early to predict how complete his recovery will be because he will need further surgery in the months ahead.

“While it is impossible to predict the long-term outcome of Mark’s eye injury, his medical team are nevertheless cautiously optimistic that he will have a reasonable recovery of the vision in his left eye. Over the next three to six months, Mark will undergo further surgery procedures in an attempt to improve his vision,” Dr Peter Sandell said in the statement.

Boucher was forced to announce his international retirement and the 35-year-old underwent a three-hour operation last week when the blood that had accumulated, due to the trauma suffered by his eye after the injury and the subsequent initial surgery, was removed.

Boucher played in 147 Tests for South Africa and completed 555 dismissals, a world record.