Ken Borland

South Africa have made it through to the quarterfinals of the U19 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies but are obviously going to have to be at their best to avoid elimination as they take on one of the most impressive teams in the competition in England, at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound, Antigua, on Wednesday.

With Dewald Brevis stealing the limelight in the first couple of games, it was encouraging to see the other Junior Proteas batsmen start to come to the party in the win over Ireland, which was basically a knockout fixture.

Brevis still made 96, but there was a tremendous century by captain George van Heerden and some brilliant late hitting by all-rounders Mickey Copeland and Andile Simelane.

But South Africa are going to need to repeat a similar batting effort against a stronger England attack that is led by a potent left-arm paceman in Joshua Boyden, while leggie Rehan Ahmed will test their abilities against spin.

While the rampant Brevis is the leading run-scorer in the tournament so far with 265 in three innings, England captain Tom Prest has roared to 251 runs.

He generally bats No.3 for England and South Africa have two ferocious fast bowlers in Liam Alder and Matthew Boast, who will want to get Prest in against the swinging new ball.

England, of course, are able to throw some serious cash at their U19 programme, but what the South Africans lack in Rands, they have been making up for in enthusiasm.

But for those wanting to take a punt on the outcome, bookmakers have installed England as the 1.6-1 favourites.

But much depends on Brevis.

“What works for you, you must stick with that,” Brevis, a major Bangalore Royal Challengers fan because his two favourite players – AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli – play for them, said when asked how he would be approaching the knockout encounter.

Pieter Malan showed he is obviously still one of the best opening batsmen in the country when he batted the Boland Rocks through to the safety of a draw in their CSA 4-Day Domestic Series match against Western Province in Paarl on Monday.

Malan batted through the 119 over innings to score an extremely disciplined 117 not out off 349 balls to deny Western Province on the final day. Boland, who were 177 runs behind on first innings, began the final day on 106 without loss, still trailing by 71.

But Isma-eel Gafieldien was only able to add one run to his overnight score of 60 before he was trapped lbw by left-arm paceman Wayne Parnell.

Left-arm spinner Kyle Simmonds (45-16-81-3) then really raised Western Province’s hopes for a victory with a three-wicket burst that left Boland on 178/4.

But Malan found an able partner in the in-form Ferisco Adams, who scored 50 not out as the pair stayed together for 30 overs to secure the draw with Boland closing on 269/4.

The other match that went into the fourth day, between the Northerns Titans and the KZN Dolphins at SuperSport Park, was also drawn after the final day was washed out by rain.

Northerns, trailing by nine runs on the first innings, were left on the overnight score of 125/1 in the second innings.

The rainy weather and the grassy fields of Ireland are obviously not going to be very conducive to spin-bowling, but Tabraiz Shamsi said on Friday that he is content to just play a supporting role in the Proteas’ ODI series that starts on Sunday, following his heroics in the West Indies.

Shamsi was deservedly named player of the series as South Africa beat a powerful West Indies side 3-2 in their T20 rubber, conceding just 80 runs in the 20 overs he bowled and taking seven wickets in an incredible display that fully justified his ranking as the No. 1 bowler in the shortest format.

The top six ODI wicket-takers at Malahide are all pace bowlers.

“There’s a definite change in the weather from the Caribbean to here, it’s quite gloomy and cold, and there’s definitely a lot in it for the fast bowlers. The pitch in training has been offering seam movement, so that’s a change from Grenada, and it’s going to be nice to see them offload.

“My preparation doesn’t really change, but maybe I’ll have more of a minimal role in this series and I’m comfortable with that. It’s not just about me taking wickets all the time, I have to be able to adjust and sometimes just hold the game. I see that differently now that I am older and more mature. If I don’t take wickets then it doesn’t mean I haven’t been successful,” Shamsi said from Dublin.

While a series against Ireland, who South Africa have beaten in all five of their previous ODIs (the last two by margins of greater than 200 runs) and who are ranked 12^th in the world, may seem like a one-sided exercise to some, the fact that every ODI now counts towards World Cup qualification ensures the integrity of these sort of match-ups and the hunger of the Proteas to continue the improved form they showed in the West Indies should lead to a good contest.

“It’s been a while since we played ODI cricket, but the World Cup is in a couple of years and the important thing is the points we need to qualify. So you have to try and win as many games as possible. What we have done in the West Indies is now gone and it’s no secret that we have not had much success in the recent past, we are on a good roll now and we want to keep that.

“The quality is there in our team, we are just a bit inexperienced and need more games together. And we don’t like losing plus we know people back home don’t like watching us lose, so we will be pushing hard and trying everything in our power to keep winning. That’s the only way to build confidence and we just ask for patience while we do that,” Shamsi said.

Doing well in the Indian Premier League will obviously help, but CSA Director of Cricket Graeme Smith says free agents will need to prove their total commitment to the Proteas if they are to earn a recall to the national side.

Faf du Plessis, Chris Morris, AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir all put in noteworthy performances before the IPL was suspended earlier this week, one match away from the halfway stage, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many fans would want all four of them to be back in India in October, representing South Africa at the T20 World Cup.

Smith said that while the door was not closed for them to be selected, there were certain conditions that needed to be met first.

Asked specifically about all-rounder Morris, he said “I notice Chris said there have not been discussions with him, but he joined the high performance programme in Lockdown last year. No-one has a definitive right to play for the Proteas, it’s up to the selectors and their performance on the field. Lately Chris’s performances have been really good, both in the IPL and in our T20.

“But we can’t choose someone who is going to go in half-arsed, who is 50/50 about it. We need to know that the player is fully committed and will do everything required and everything for the team. It’s a question that applies to all of the free agents, who are technically still always available for the Proteas. AB de Villiers has officially retired so that’s a different discussion that is ongoing,” Smith said this week.

The West Indies have won two of the last three T20 World Cups despite many of their top players being scattered around the globe, and free agents like Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree and Andre Russell did the business for them in the last tournament, held in 2016 in India.

“The free agents are generally more experienced in the format than most players and we’ve seen the success the West Indies have had using them, so it’s definitely something we would consider. But the selectors also have to consider team dynamics and the type of players we have in our own system.

“Right now the focus is on trying to get the best squad together in the build-up. We have 15-17 T20s lined up, including plenty of sub-continent preparation, so the squad will have plenty of time together. It should be a nice build-up for October,” Smith said.