Win or lose on the field, the South African under-19=20 team’s tour to England is a victory for development
CRICKET: Rupert Cox
RUGBY may have stolen cricket’s thunder as far as the=20 media spotlight is concerned in South Africa, but when=20 it comes to development and expansion of the respective=20 games, Ali Bacher and the United Cricket Board are=20 still perceived to be the leaders … at least=20
The South African under-19 team arrived in England on=20 June 23 and less than a week later a club side from=20 Soweto touched down at London’s Heathrow airport. As=20 far as England is concerned, the movement towards a=20 multi-racial South African Test team is gathering pace.
The under-19 squad, captained by Neil McKenzie, son of=20 former Transvaal batsman and (until very recently,=20 national selector) Kevin, contains six blacks and five=20 whose mother tongue is Afrikaans. It makes for an=20 intriguing mix. “The boys change rooming partners at=20 every stop,” says Mike Griffiths, the tour’s cricket=20 manager. “Of course we have black boys sharing with=20 Afrikaans boys. It’s no problem for them … but it=20 would have been inconceivable a few years back.”
Stephen Jones, the Border coach, is also coach for the=20 under-19 tour: “It’s certainly an interesting mix! Many=20 of the boys haven’t been outside Africa, although five=20 or six have toured England or Australia with their=20 schools. But this is the first competitive tour for=20 most of them.” So how, and why, did the tour come=20
“It was important to give the younger guys exposure …=20 it’s vital to their progress. The squad was selected=20 after Coca Cola (formally Nuffield) week. The top 39=20 boys were invited to a training camp in March and after=20 that the top 15 were chosen … purely on merit. It’s=20 so pleasing to see the development programme catching=20 up,” says Jones.
Is there an implication that the team may not be ready=20 to compete … yet? “Obviously results are important –=20 we’d like to come here and win –there is no point in=20 touring otherwise. But it’s also a learning process for=20 the guys and provides an important yardstick for the=20 future. If they are willing to learn then I would be=20 disappointed if some of these boys don’t progress to=20 the international arena.”
Even Bacher, the UCB’s managing director, arrived in=20 Chelmsford hotfoot from Heathrow to watch the second=20 one-day Youth International.=20
The following day, he drove to Neath to watch the=20 Sowetan team in action before finally getting around to=20 attending the TCC conference that was his excuse for=20 being in England in the first place.=20
His comments, although heard many times before, are=20 still heartfelt: “The under-19 tour, and that of the=20 Sowetans, indicate quite clearly the dramatic changes=20 that are going on in South Africa at the moment.”=20
Like a proud father watching his own children, he=20 speaks without once taking his eyes away from=20 proceedings in the middle.
The two-month tour included two Youth Internationals=20 (which England won comfortably) and is to be followed=20 by a three-match series of four-day “Tests” at Taunton,=20 Worcester and the Test venue at Headingley. The first=20 “Test” begins on July 20.
Two months is a long time for some of the party to be=20 away, but it also enables them to travel the length and=20 breadth of the country and experience the different=20 cultures and regions of England.
England, perhaps, was the first country to see the=20 future of South African cricket … not potential, nor=20 just grand plans, but there in all its colour and=20 culture for everyone to see. It is no longer just=20 frustrating, sometimes idle talk. It brought a smile to=20 many a British face.
“We’ve been very lucky both with the hospitality and=20 with the weather, but the strength of public and media=20 interest has absolutely amazed us,” Jones says.
In truth, the tour has not enjoyed an auspicious start.=20 There has, inevitably, been talk of the last team to=20 tour from South Africa of a similar age group. Known=20 simply as the South African Schools, the party visited=20 in 1963 and included Barry Richards and Mike Proctor,=20 amongst others. They lost just two of their 21 matches=20 and Wisden was moved to describe them as “a formidable=20
Results, though, would be a hasty and unfair=20 comparison. The make-up of the two squads is markedly=20 different and the itinerary facing the 1995 version is=20 considerably tougher than that which Richards and=20 Proctor enjoyed. It should also not go unmentioned that=20 the current England under-19 team beat the West Indies=20 under-20 side 2-1 in a recent one-day series … in the=20
As Jones says, results are important, but this tour=20 goes beyond that. It is an overt show of unity,=20 barriers have been broken and a huge step taken to the=20 formation of a more representative national squad.
Morgan Pillay, the tour manager, spoke for many when=20 he said, “Some of these players rose through the=20 development programme and we are hoping that they will=20 do particularly well because they can become the role=20 models for a whole new generation of Test cricketers”.