Wandile Makwetu and Sinethemba Qeshile rescued SA U19 after an early collapse left them reeling against England U19.
SA U19 captain Makwetu won the toss and chose to bat at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street. England openers Jack Plom and Adam Finch struck early with a wicket apiece to reduce South Africa to 12-2 in the third over, with Joshua Richards (7) and Louis van Schalkwyk (4) both hitting boundaries before getting caught out.
Rain interrupted play with the score on 20-2, allowing Jacob Miltz and Makwetu to take stock of their opponents and the wicket, but the loss of Miltz shortly after the restart left the South African men’s cricketers in a familiar – but unwelcome – position of being 24-3.
Makwetu and Sinethemba Qeshile knuckled down and cautiously built South Africa’s score up before Makwetu fell lbw for 36 off 66 balls, after hitting four fours. The pair had added a crucial 64 for the fourth wicket, and Qeshile followed his captain back into the changeroom 1o overs later, having taken the score to 108, with his contribution of 47 off 88 (eight fours).
Jason Niemand (eight off 40 balls) and Jade de Klerk (one off 18 balls) saw things through to the close at 118-5 off 40.2 overs and the pair will look to start afresh and claw their way towards 200 and a chance to offer England some stern resistance through the remainder of this second youth Test.
The England bowlers will be eager for another crack at their visitors, in particular Plom, who took seven wickets in the first Test and ended the day with 2-30. Fellow opener Finch was even more economical in collecting figures of 2-23.
