Pick issues rallying cry

Andy Pick heaped praise on Sam Northeast for his fifty in searing conditions in Paarl

England Under-19 coach Andy Pick has called on his batsmen to deliver as the tourists attempt to fight their way back into the one-day series tomorrow.

South Africa lead the five-match rubber 2-0 with three games to play following convincing victories in the opening matches at Cape Town and Paarl over the last two days.

It has been a difficult start to the tour with defeats to the Proteas’ Under-17s and an Invitation XI preceding the one-day series.

Ahead of the tour, Pick pinpointed England’s top order as their strongest suit but so far it has struggled to create a platform for the team to build on.

With first-class centurions Josh Cobb and captain Liam Dawson yet to make an impact, Pick has urged the batting unit to fire at Paarl tomorrow.

“I’m a bit disappointed,” he told ecb.co.uk. "From our point of view I feel the area where our squad is at it’s strongest is the top-order batting.

"There are two or three guys there who have got first-class centuries, a number of guys with first-class experience, and at the moment we’re not getting anywhere near enough runs.

“That’s been the disappointing side of things I think. The rest of the trip has been as most trips are when we come away and we’ve not been outside for three-and-a-half, four months - it takes us a while to get going.

"We’re very quickly into the games, which means obviously we have to try and settle in very quickly which makes it difficult.

“They’re in the middle of their summer so everything is a bit more set against us. That’s the reason why we come over but we really need our batters to start putting some scores on the board.”

South Africa captain Jonathan Vandiar made a match-winning 75 in the second one-dayer

Kent’s Sam Northeast gave Pick some cause for optimism yesterday with a well-constructed 63 at the top of the order, although England fell short of their target by the same margin.

Northeast’s innings gave Pick particular satisfaction given the sweltering conditions. It also came on the back of a frustrating team batting display the previous day when the top 10 all reached double figures but failed to reach 50.

“It’s Sam’s third tour and he’s gone full circle from being picked on potential as a young lad to one of the senior batters,” Pick added.

“He’s the first one to step up to the plate really in as much as he’s the first one to put a score on the board.

“When it’s 45 degrees or 40 or whatever it was yesterday - really, really hot - and we’ve fielded for two and a half hours, to then concentrate for another hour and a half batting-wise is a great show of strength from his point of view.

“It’s difficult to do it all on your own though and we need some of the other guys to support him.”

Another encouragement for Pick has been the smooth transition Leicestershire’s Nathan Buck has made to the international arena.

Taking the new ball, Buck has claimed five wickets in the first two matches, all against South Africa’s top order.

With fellow seamers Atif Sheikh and Jaik Mickleburgh restricted by a side strain and a knee injury respectively, Buck’s form has been a bonus.

“Nathan’s bowled well. He’s got into it quicker than the other guys," said Pick.

“We’ve had a couple of little niggles for some of our other seamers and our bowling is a little bit depleted but our two frontline seamers are the guys who are playing at the moment.

England skipper Liam Dawson is yet to get going with the bat against South Africa's bowlers

“Nathan’s bowled well. He’s bowled with control. He’s quickly worked out the lines and the lengths that he needs to bowl on the tracks that we’ve been playing on and the batters we’ve been playing against.”

Pick has tempered his disappointment at going 2-0 down in the series with recognition that his side are up against some class players in fine form.

Number three Rilee Rossouw is enjoying a fine season for Free State while captain Jonathan Vandiar has made a solid start to his first-class career with KwaZulu-Natal.

Pick said: “So far they’ve played good cricket in all departments. They’ve maintained a high standard in batting, bowling and fielding.

“One of the things we’ll be discussing in our meeting tonight is that we’ll have to identify an area of weakness to try and exploit in the next game and for me I think their bowling attack is not quite as strong as expected, but their batting is strong.

“They’ve got a guy Rossouw coming in at number three who is pretty high up in their first-class batting statistics this current season, and another guy who is well up there as well, so they’ve got a couple of guys who are very much in form at first-class level playing against us.

“Their batting is very, very strong but I think their bowling is the weaker of the two - but that’s no disrespect to the bowlers. I’m not saying it’s a weak bowling attack. Their bowling is not quite as strong as their batting.

“They’re a well-drilled unit, they’re in the middle of their summer and it’s always difficult wherever you go.

“In the winter it’s always difficult but you have to try and take positives and learn a bit about players and hopefully two or three players will show signs that they are ready to step up to the next level in the near future.

"That’s the idea of coming on tour and that’s what we’re after.”