U19s plan to bounce back against Canada after Afghanistan defeat
SA U19 cricket captain Bryce Parsons has no option but to look forward to their next match against Canada on Wednesday after their embarrassing reverse against Afghanistan on Friday.
In the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup opener at the Diamond Oval‚ SA were bundled out for 129 and lost the game by seven wickets with 150 balls remaining.
Parsons said the hard work they put in before the tournament had gone unrewarded‚ but they had to move on to their next game.
They will be up against Canada in Potchefstroom in a game that may determine whether they move to the Plate or Super League playoff section.
“It’s disappointing because we’ve worked hard and we’ve put in a lot of preparation in terms of cricket in the past few months.
“We’re not going to look too much into the result because we’ve got two big games coming up‚” Parsons said.
“They are two must-win games against Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
“We’re looking forward because we have no time to dwell on what happened in this game.
“The result was disappointing but we have to move on.”
Spin was again the downfall for SA as eight of their 10 wickets were claimed by spin.
Six were taken by leg-spinner Shafiqullah Ghafari‚ whose mesmerising nine-over spell was too much for the hosts to bear. Parsons had top-scored with 40 and shared a 55-run second-wicket stand with Luke Beaufort that steadied the hosts after the loss of two early wickets.
When both were dismissed by left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad‚ Ghafari kicked the door down and mopped up the rest of the batting order.
Parsons admitted they had struggled against the spinners‚ but also said his unconverted start had let the team down.
“We struggled against spin and the two leg-spinners bowled very well.
“Their left-arm wrist-spinner bowled a number of googlies and our batsmen battled to read them.”
Afghanistan is fast becoming a haven for quality legspinners. —