Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – Whether they go on to win the tournament or not, South Africa will take massive satisfaction from a gutsy victory over arch-rivals Australia at the ICC U19 World Cup in Queenstown, New Zealand, on Wednesday.
They prevailed by two wickets with two deliveries remaining in a pulsating encounter which resulted in them topping Group B and teeing up a quarter-final against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
The Ray Jennings-mentored “baby Proteas” looked up against it several times in the encounter, not least when the Aussies piled up an imposing 276 for seven in their 50 overs.
Jason Floros top-scored for the Australians with a run-a-ball 96, while Gauteng’s Graham Hume, who models his bowling style on Charl Langeveldt, earned best South African bowling figures of 10-3-35-3.
Dale Deeb also kept a pretty tight lid on things in the high-scoring encounter, conceding only 42 runs in a maximum quota of 10 overs.
This particular SA U19 vintage entered the tournament with fewer individual superstars, supposedly, than in recent times, but their collective spirit came strongly to the fore in the chase – despite the blow of losing key batsman Colin Ackermann, at No 4, to a five-ball duck.
South Africa’s top-order hero was Dominic Hendricks, the Port Elizabeth-born left-hander who plays for Gauteng: he struck 94 off 99 balls with eight fours.
But when he was dismissed in the 37th over (208 for five), his side still had plenty to do.
They later receded to an ominous 258 for eight in the 47th over, but an unbeaten stand of 20 between Deeb (27 not out) and Hume saw the South Africans scramble home in 49.4 overs.
Hendricks was later named player of the match.
Cape Town – Whether they go on to win the tournament or not, South Africa will take massive satisfaction from a gutsy victory over arch-rivals Australia at the ICC U19 World Cup in Queenstown, New Zealand, on Wednesday.
They prevailed by two wickets with two deliveries remaining in a pulsating encounter which resulted in them topping Group B and teeing up a quarter-final against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
The Ray Jennings-mentored “baby Proteas” looked up against it several times in the encounter, not least when the Aussies piled up an imposing 276 for seven in their 50 overs.
Jason Floros top-scored for the Australians with a run-a-ball 96, while Gauteng’s Graham Hume, who models his bowling style on Charl Langeveldt, earned best South African bowling figures of 10-3-35-3.
Dale Deeb also kept a pretty tight lid on things in the high-scoring encounter, conceding only 42 runs in a maximum quota of 10 overs.
This particular SA U19 vintage entered the tournament with fewer individual superstars, supposedly, than in recent times, but their collective spirit came strongly to the fore in the chase – despite the blow of losing key batsman Colin Ackermann, at No 4, to a five-ball duck.
South Africa’s top-order hero was Dominic Hendricks, the Port Elizabeth-born left-hander who plays for Gauteng: he struck 94 off 99 balls with eight fours.
But when he was dismissed in the 37th over (208 for five), his side still had plenty to do.
They later receded to an ominous 258 for eight in the 47th over, but an unbeaten stand of 20 between Deeb (27 not out) and Hume saw the South Africans scramble home in 49.4 overs.
Hendricks was later named player of the match.