South Africa U19 will begin their long-awaited 2022 World Cup campaign with a captivating encounter against India on Saturday.
The Group B match will get underway at 15:00 SA time at the Providence Stadium in Providence, near Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana.
It will be broadcast live on SuperSport Variety 1 and on the SuperSport YouTube channel.
South Africa will then take on Uganda on Tuesday, 18 January and Ireland on Friday, 21 January.
Junior Proteas captain George van Heerden expressed his and the team’s eagerness to get started and welcomes the games coming thick and fast.
“To be honest, I have never played games with so much rest time before in my life, so two to three days between games is quite a lot and the thing is for us, we are so keen to get out on the park now, having been here for such a long time with the tour against the West Indies before this. So, the minimal wait time is actually a good thing for us.
“We are extremely excited; last night a couple of us were chatting about all of the SA players that have gone before us, with the names like Aiden Markram, Rabada and all of those guys that been in our seat before us, it has been absolutely amazing
“It’s such a great opportunity for all of us and just seeing the people that are walking around the hotel; this morning I saw Simon Doull, Samuel Badree, Curtly Ambrose; it’s been eye-opening, but we are all just very excited about what’s to come.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s World Cup opener, head coach Shukri Conrad says the team is in high spirits and although they are wary of India – who finished as runners-up in 2020 and won the 2018 edition – he is adamant his team are just as capable and will not go in as underdogs.
“The mood in the camp is really good and we are just itching to get on the park. Everybody is in a good space, both from a skills point of view and from a psychological point of view.
“We haven’t really seen them [India]. We watched a little bit of their warm-up game yesterday and I don’t see them as favourites going into this game as we want to start ridding ourselves of the underdog tag; especially when we come up against India.
“We know they are a very good side and are probably a dangerous side, but so are we.
“They obviously have ability, they play quite an aggressive brand but ultimately, if we stay disciplined and stick to the game plans we put in place, and are able to execute, there is no reason why we can’t beat them come Saturday.”
South Africa U19’s World Cup Group B Fixtures (all 15:00 SA time):
Saturday, 15 January: vs India (Providence Stadium, Providence)
Tuesday, 18 January: vs Uganda (Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain)
Friday, 21 January: vs Ireland (Brian Lara Cricket Stadium, Tarouba)
SA U19 squad: George van Heerden (Captain) (Warriors), Liam Alder (Lions), Matthew Boast (KZN Inland), Dewald Brevis (Titans), Michael Copeland (Boland), Ethan Cunningham (Western Province), Valentine Kitime (Titans), Kwena Maphaka (Lions), Gerhard Maree (Free State), Aphiwe Mnyanda (Warriors), Andile Simelane (KwaZulu-Natal Inland), Jade Smith (Warriors), Kaden Solomons (Western Province), Joshua Stephenson (Warriors), Asakhe Tshaka (Western Province).
