James Minto top scored for England Under 19s with an unbeaten 66 on day two of the opening Youth Test against South Africa Under 19s at Beckenham.
South Africa had built a useful lead of 172 at the end of day of the one-off test with England at Beckenham, reaching 97 for three at stumps.
Jorich van Schalkwyk was their top scorer with 48, although he was out to the final ball of the day, caught behind off England captain Ralphie Albert.
Earlier England were dismissed for 220 in their first innings. Bayanda Majola ran through England’s top order with four for 47, before JJ Basson finished them off with three for 50.
James Minto was England’s top scorer with 66 not out, while Rocky Flintoff made 63.
England began day two on 13-2 and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, as they struggled to cope with Majola, who consistently bowled above 80 mph.
Will Bennison, who was on four overnight, was the first man to go, caught behind off Majola for 15.
Flintoff was on eight when he edged JJ Basson to third slip, but van Schalkwyk couldn’t cling on to difficult chance.
Majola then bowled Falconer for nine and Albert went for 17, caught by Nkosana Sibiya at second slip off Michael Kruiskamp.
Manny Lumsden got off the mark with a lucky single off Kruiskamp that a sprinting keeper Joshua van Biljon couldn’t quite reel in, but he’d made just five when Ntando Soni had him caught by by Paul James at point.
Krusikamp then caught and bowled Harry Wallace for 12, leaving England on 141 for seven at lunch.
Flintoff nudged Jason Rowles for single to reach fifty and in the same over Minto hit the first six of the innings, but their stand of 69 ended when van Biljon took a brilliant diving catch after Flintoff wafted at Basson.
Minto reached 50 when he clubbed Rowles for four, but he ran out of partners. Basson bowled Bradley Sylvester for four, then cleaned up Ali Farooq for a duck to conclude England’s first innings.
England responded with a stifling spell with the new ball (in all the seamers went for just 29 runs off 24 overs). It took 27 balls before South Africa scored a run off the bat and they were just two without loss at tea. Nkosana Sibiya then nicked Minto to Will Bennison at second slip for just two before van Schalkwyk scored the first boundaries in the 14th over, hitting Albert for four and six.
Muhammad Bulbulia was next to go, strangled by Bradley Sylvester for 26.
Van Schalkwyk was hit on the shoulder by a Lumsden beamer but he was fit to continue and looked set for at least a half century until Albert switched to the Beckenham End: he tried to slash him through the offside and was snared by Wallace.
South Africa took two late wickets to reduce England to 13-2 on day one of the four-day test at Beckenham.
The Proteas were dismissed for 295 in their first innings, with Leicestershire spinner Ali Farooq taking 3 for 40 and Durham’s James Minto three for 60.
Main image – Keith Gillard