SA juniors keen to regain momentum after defeat

Though they’re not in a mustwin situation, the South African U-19 cricket team will want to put a good performance together when they take on Scotland in their final Group B match at the U-19 World Cup in Potchefstroom today.

The tournament hosts go into the game with one win (West Indies) and one loss (England), while Scotland have lost both their matches, against the same opposition.

South Africa are third in the group with two points, while Scotland are bottom with no points, but even if Scotland win today, the South Africans should have a better nett run rate and qualify for the Super Sixes stage of the tournament.

Going into the game, South Africa’s nett run rate is -0.064 and Scotland’s -2.454.

Fortunately for South Africa, the top three teams in each of the four groups of four advance to the Super Sixes stage with just the last placed team in each group falling out of contention.

Captain Juan James’ (below) team have so far beaten the West Indies by 31 runs, and lost to England by 36 runs on the DLS method.

The South Africans will be confident of getting the better of Scotland at the JB Marks Oval today (10am start), after winning all three of their previous matches against the men from Europe.

In 1998 the South Africans won by eight wickets, in 2006 they won by 185 runs and in their last meeting in 2016, South Africa won by 10 wickets – all convincing victories.

Scotland have struggled at the tournament so far, going down to England by seven wickets with 142 balls remaining and West Indies by five wickets with 89 balls to spare.

South Africa will look to deliver a far more composed and better batting performance than they produced against the West Indies during the week, with Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Steve Stolk key players at the top of the order.

Number three batter, David Teeger, too, will be keen to make a big contribution after his 44 against West Indies and a duck against England.

In the bowling department Kwena Maphaka, Riley Norton, Romashan Pillay and James are the key men.