Riazuddin predicts close contest

Hamza Riazuddin has played in only one first-class match, for Hampshire in May 2008

All-rounder Hamza Riazuddin has backed England Under-19s to come good in the one-off Test against their South Africa counterparts, starting on Saturday.

The tourists go into the four-day match at Willowmoore Park, Benoni, on the back of an eight-wicket defeat against senior opponents, a University Sports South Africa XI in Johannesburg.

That match followed the Proteas’ 3-2 victory in the one-day series, albeit after England had come from 2-0 down to square the rubber, and 2-0 triumph in the Twenty20 games.

Riazuddin, 19, who led the team in the Twenty20s, believes coach Andy Pick’s charges can close the gap on their hosts in the longer form of the game.

He highlighted the role spin trio Scott Borthwick, Liam Dawson and Azeem Rafiq could play on pitches they have found conducive to turn.

He told ecb.co.uk: “I think it will be pretty even. The sides are pretty even for a Test match. We’ve got a very strong batting line-up.

“They’ve got a couple of good players too but with spinners like Scotty and Dawson and Rafiq, I think it should be a good contest really.”

Riazuddin expects England’s specialist batsmen, most notably in-form Sam Northeast, to counter their opposite numbers, who have shone during the series.

He points out their first-class statistics are evenly matched. Both sides’ strongest available line-ups boast two first-class centurions but England claim one more fifty-maker.

Leicestershire’s Josh Cobb and Hampshire’s Dawson reached three figures for their counties last season while Rilee Rossouw and Jonathan Vandiar have also reached the landmark.

“If you look at our first-class stats, our top five, six players match their lot pretty evenly. It should be interesting to see which way it goes,” Riazuddin added.

“In the one-day cricket, we came back to 2-2 in the series. It took us a couple of days, a week and a bit, to get into it.

“I think for the Test matches a lot of the batsmen have played a lot of first-class cricket so they’ll be used to batting time and taking up overs. It will be our strongest suit."