Former Proteas batter Neil McKenzie has explained what South Africa need to do to bounce back from their opening U19 World Cup loss to India.
On Tuesday, South Africa will take on Uganda, who lost their first match of the tournament to Ireland, at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.
The match will be broadcast live on SuperSport Golf (channel 213) and streamed on SuperSport’s YouTube channel from 3pm SA time.
McKenzie, who is a batting consultant for the SA U19s, says it’s important for the players to stay true to their natural attacking style of play.
“They are South Africans. When you talk about South Africans, you talk about resilience, team spirit, ability and talent, and there’s no shortage of that with this U19 lot.
“It’s just about being a little bit street-smart, a little bit more trusting of our gameplans and the roles in the team, and then just go out there and do what you’ve been selected to do. Keep it nice and simple.
“The management staff under [head coach] Shukri Conrad, we like the guys to go out there and play their games, going with a gameplan and sticking to it,” McKenzie added.
“It’s an attacking mindset and, on Saturday, we just went into a little bit of a default, where guys just tried to survive and take the game quite deep, where I think we could have been a lot more proactive.”
McKenzie said the well-drilled India bowling attack and the lack of strike rotation of the South Africa batters was the difference between the teams.
“We knew wickets up front would be crucial and we got off to a decent start [with the bat] against a quality side that doesn’t give you much; very disciplined with the ball and you really got to do stuff and be proactive to get your ones.
“We’ve got so many exciting hitters, so it’s just about trying to get the guys to be proactive; use your feet, hit down the ground for singles because there are no freebies on offer against a side like that.
“The guys have plenty of talent and striking ability, it’s just being a little bit street-smart. Street-smart in terms of the bowling, batting, the captaincy in terms of fields, angles, etc.
“We were just a little off the mark, which is understandable. For these guys, it’s probably the biggest game they’ve ever played; on a World Cup stage and in foreign conditions, so we’ve learned, and we will come back.”
