SA juniors focus on ‘small things’
JAMES: PLAYING PRESSURE SITUATIONS WILL BE VITAL
The South African Under-19 team is aiming to focus on the small things which will hopefully help them upset the more fancied Indian team in their U19 World Cup semifinal clash at Willowmoore Park in Benoni today (start 10am).
It has been a solid tournament for the SA U19s who were expected to struggle to reach the competition knockouts, but they have instead punched above their weight to make it through to the play-offs.
They finished top of their pool on net-run-rate after strong wins over the West Indies and Scotland, but a loss to England meant they were level on four points with the Carribean and UK side.
In the Super Six phase they hammered Zimbabwe by nine wickets and Sri Lanka by 119 runs, which saw them finish second behind Australia, to secure their semis spot against the unbeaten Indians.
India have already beaten the SA U19 team twice this year, in a Tri-Series competition, along with Bangladesh, in January, by comfortable margins of seven and six wickets respectively, so they know exactly how tough it will be to get a win against them.
However captain Juan James believes his team has grown over the tournament and know what they need to do to come out on top.
“It is going to be the team that plays the pressure situations the best that will come out on top. So we are just going to focus on the small things and hopefully we will come out on top,” said James.
We know we have a number of work-ons. In our last game (against Sri Lanka), we tried to build partnerships, but that just didn’t happen. So we will have to rectify that.
“Another work-on is our catching. Dropping three slip catches is not ideal, but we are just going to work on it and hopefully it won’t happen again.”
The team will be relying on star fast bowler Kwena Maphaka putting in another match winning performance, with him top of the wicket-taking charts in the competition with 18 scalps.
He became the first player to ever take three five wicket hauls in the tournament’s history, with figures of 5/38 against the West Indies, 5/34 against Zimbabwe and 6/21 against Sri Lanka and he will be eager to continue his rich vein of form.
“I am feeling very confident at the moment. But I know that there is always something to work for and keep pushing for if we want to win this World Cup.
I just have to keep my feet on the ground. I have really good support system, so that is keeping me going,” said Maphaka.