Ackerman undermines Under-19s

Hamza Riazuddin's three early wickets could not prevent an England defeat

England Under-19s’ tough start to their tour of South Africa continued as they slipped to a second defeat in three days.

Beaten by South Africa Under-17s in their opening warm-up match, England went down by six wickets to an impressive South Africa Invitation XI at Greenpoint CC in Cape Town.

The tourists could manage only 123 after winning the toss and electing to bat, a total the Invitation XI overhauled with almost 13 overs to spare.

Josh Cobb followed up his 41 in the first game with a determined half-century, while Adam Wheater, who also impressed behind the stumps, made 32. However, it was a measure of England’s plight that no other batsman reached double figures.

England were undone by Kushen Kishun and Kirk Wernars, who took 3-21 and 3-25 respectively to help bowl the tourists out inside 37 overs.

Though Hamza Riazuddin claimed three early wickets to reduce the Invitation XI to 18 for four - he finished with admirable figures of 10-5-19-3 - England again found Colin Ackerman barring their path.

He underlined his growing reputation with an unbeaten 77 to complement the 84 not out he made in the first match, sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 106 with Andre Malan to ease the hosts’ nerves.

Defeat means England head into the opening one-day international against South Africa on Tuesday without a win, and tour manager John Abrahams said: “Batting first on both occasions and not posting challenging totals made the work for bowlers without any middle practice very difficult.

“The squad is aware of the areas it needs to improve on to compete with South Africa U19s.”

Scorecard - South Africa Invitation XI v England U19, Tour Match, Jan 10 2009 (34 KB)