SA U19 all-rounder Bryce Parsons believes his side will take the break between matches to assess their performances and use the disappointment of a two-nil Youth Test series defeat to India as part of a valuable learning curve.

The young South Africans went down by an innings and 158 runs in their second encounter with India U19 at the Greenfield International Stadium after a batting collapse in their second innings on day three. This was after they had lost to the hosts by nine wickets in the opening Youth Test last week.

Parsons believes the side did not execute their skills well enough, and failed to assess their newly-found conditions quickly enough. The disappointed all-rounder said that the results were not good enough.

READ ALSO: SA U19 staring down the barrel

‘We had disappointing results,’ said Parsons. ‘We didn’t really perform our skills the way we wanted to. Getting used to the conditions was tough for us, but we could have executed our skills better. It was just not great in terms of the results, but we are looking forward, and hopefully we can turn this tour around.’

Echoing the words of head coach Lawrence Mahatlane, the all-rounder touched on it being the first time he and most of his teammates have played in the longer format of the game. Without attempting excuses, he pointed out some of the challenges his teammates faced during the match, particularly during their opponents’ extended stints with the bat that saw Yashasvi Jaiswal (173) and Vaibhav Kandpal (122) record centuries.

The youngster from Gauteng said that the visitors picked up a few things from the Indian side that they hope to do better in their next few matches as the tour moves on to the one-day format.

‘For most of us, we haven’t even played three-day or two-day cricket, so it’s been tough for us to get used to this format,’ he added. ‘It was really tough to stand out in the field all day, concentrate and then try and go out there to bat. I think that’s where our batting also struggled a bit because they batted long periods of time.

‘If we can take anything from them and what they did better than us is batting time, rather than just looking to score runs. During our innings, we got bogged down in certain areas, we didn’t score as many runs as they did and then lost wickets in clusters,’ he reflected.

READ ALSO: SA U19 lose by innings

Parsons ended the Youth Test series as the highest run-scorer for the SA U19 side with 212 runs, including two half-centuries, while taking figures of 6-77 in the first match. Despite the return, the 18-year old said he let himself down by not converting the two fifties into hundreds, and added that he cannot wait to begin the white-ball format, where he feels the tourists will be more comfortable.

‘We are all used to this format,’ he explained. ‘We all play positive, attacking cricket and this format definitely suits us. We just want to put out a statement that we haven’t come here to be walkovers.

‘We have to take time to reflect on how we performed in this Test series, learn from our disappointments and come back stronger in the ODI series and achieve our goals against India U19s ‘A’, India U19s ‘B’ and Afghanistan U19s.’

The Youth Quadrangular One-Day International series gets under way from Tuesday 5 March, South Africa taking on India U19s in the opening game.

READ ALSO: Parsons, Ntanzi make our Team of the Month

South Africa U19 squad

Matthew Montgomery (captain, Dolphins)
Luke Beaufort (Warriors)
Jonathan Bird (Cape Cobras)
Achille Cloete (Cape Cobras)
Jarred Jardine (Highveld Lions)
Marco Jansen (Highveld Lions)
Thamsanqa Kumalo (Dolphins)
Bonga Makaka (Cape Cobras)
Andile Mogakane (Dolphins)
Kgaudise Molefe (Highveld Lions)
Lifa Ntanzi (Dolphins)
Bryce Parsons (Highveld Lions)
Siya Plaatjie (Cape Cobras)
Ruan Terblanche (Cape Cobras)
Nonelela Yikha (Warriors)

Tour Itinerary
5 March: Quadrangular ODI India U19 vs SA U19 Sports Hub, Trivandrum
7 March: Quadrangular ODI India U19 B vs SAu19 St. Xavier College – KCA Ground¸ Trivandrum
9 March: Quadrangular ODI SA U19 vs Oman Sports Hub, Trivandrum
11 March: Quadrangular ODI Final & 3rd/4th Playoff Sports Hub / St. Xavier College – KCA Ground, Trivandrum

Photo: Cricket South Africa