Young Proteas tipped for U19 World Cup glory

Joy Chakravarty 11:37 01/03/2014
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  • United we stand: South Africa have performed well as a unit.

    Unbeaten South Africa will start as favourites to lift the Under-19 World Cup when they take on two-time champions Pakistan in the final in a day-night encounter at the Dubai International Stadium today.

    While South Africa will be delighted with the overall form of their side, there are at least four big worries for Sami Aslam and his boys.

    The first and foremost would be based on what they saw take place at the same venue on Wednesday. Kagiso Rabada was fast and ferocious as he scythed through the Australian batting with sheer pace in the semi-finals with a superb haul of 6-25.

    Aslam insists they have enough experience of handling the fiery Rabada. But, if the Australians struggled against his cleverly mixed-up line and length, the subcontinent batsmen are known to struggle against anything that bounces above the knee roll.

    Which leads to the second point – Pakistan depend heavily on their opening batsmen, Aslam and Imam-ul-Haq, and they will have to take care of Rabada’s first spell.

    Aslam (242) and Imam (370) have been the two most successful batsmen for their side, with No3 Hasan Raza coming in third way down with 135 runs in his five matches.

    The big question – and this could be a turning point of the match even before it started – is the fitness of Imam. The talented nephew of Pakistan legend Inzamam-ul Haq strained his hamstring in the semi-final and was limping slightly.

    Apart from being their best batsman, Imam is also most vocal on the pitch while fielding and captain Sami depends on his experience. Sami insists Imam was feeling fine and would be a part of the playing XI today.

    “Imam has taken rest the past three days and has been attended to by our doctor. He took part in the nets today, so he is going to play,” he said.

    South Africa captain Aiden Markram said: “Hats off to the Pakistani openers. They have played some tremendous cricket and their stats show that.

    “We are delighted with the way Rabada bowled that evening and we are just hoping he can take that into the final. We are constantly revising plans that he has for the Pakistan openers.

    “We have had a look at their strengths and we will have another look this evening and see if there are any weaknesses that we can attack. But I agree that we cannot let them get away with a big partnership upfront.”

    Pakistan’s batting isn’t the only problem. Their bowlers too have struggled. Leg-spinner Karamat Ali is their most successful bowler so far with 11 wickets in the tournament, and he is once again going to be the key with the general feeling being that the South Africans may be suspect against the turning ball.

    Left-arm orthodox Zafar Gohar and seamer Zia-ul-Haq have also taken eight wickets each, but they will surely have to step up in the final.

    And finally, fielding has been Pakistan’s Achilles’ heel. Except for the group match against Scotland, they have dropped catches in every match, and their ground fielding hasn’t been as sharp as their rivals.

    On the other hand, South Africa are like a well-oiled machine right now. They had some concerns about the form of opener and wicketkeeper Clyde Fortuin, and he came good in the semi-finals with a 74.

    They were also worried that Rabada was not taking wickets at the top of the order, and he grabbed half a dozen against Australia. The only negative for South Africa right now is their relative inexperience at the international level.

    They only got together as a unit last September and have played a series in India and later, a domestic tournament back home.

    Markram, who has led the team by example, top-scoring with 304 runs in five matches with two centuries, said: “In a way, it is great that we do not have any superstar in this team. We don’t have anyone with first-class experience.

    "But what that has done is that every day, it has given an opportunity for another individual to take responsibility and win us games.”

    The lack of experience on the field is more than made up by the coaching staff, led by the remarkable Ray Jennings, who has been at the helm of affairs of the Young Proteas for several years now.

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