Under-19s set for South Africa safari

_{Watch Andy Pick talk to ECBtv - look out for a surprise appearance from Michael Vaughan}

England Under-19s travel to South Africa today in search of immediate results and with a view to next year’s World Cup in Kenya.

Coach Andy Pick will oversee a 14-man squad in five one-day internationals, two Twenty20 internationals and a one-off Test on a tour lasting until February 4.

Pick, who coached England in the 2006 and 2008 Under-19 World Cups and Canada in the 2007 senior competition, has set his sights on victory over the Proteas.

However, he also sees the value of experience in African conditions for the squad members who are eligible for the 2010 World Cup.

“Ultimately we want to win the one-day series, the Twenty20 series and win the one-off Test,” he told ecb.co.uk.

“I don’t think there’s any point in setting your initial targets lower than winning the series in all forms of the game.

“However, that’s not to say that’s the only way we’ll take anything away from this tour. If we’ve got two or three guys who have really good tours and push themselves closer for the Performance Programme with (performance director) David Parsons and onwards towards England then that’s a success.

“If we come back and our four young bowlers who are going to the World Cup next year have learned and progressed and have made the best of their opportunity, you know that’s a bonus.

Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson uses his feet during his maiden first-class hundred

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“World Cup years are about winning. The years in between are a development opportunity and we’ll be looking to get an idea of who has a chance of going on to the next level to the Lions and then hopefully onward from there.”

Pick is confident England’s batting will be their strong suit with two first-class centurions in their ranks: Hampshire’s Liam Dawson and Leicestershire’s Josh Cobb.

Derbyshire’s Dan Redfern and Essex’s Jaik Mickleburgh are also promising talents along with James Taylor of Leicestershire and Kent’s Sam Northeast.

“Our batting is our strength for sure in this particular cycle,” Pick added.

“In this particular age group people like Liam Dawson, Josh Cobb, Dan Redfern and Jaik Mickleburgh all played first-class cricket last year with varying degrees of success.

“All were successful - it was just that Liam and Josh registered their maiden first-class hundreds - so the batting is experienced.

“Add to that people like James Taylor, who played a fair bit of one-day cricket for Leicestershire, and Sam Northeast, who's been on a couple of Under-19s tours before so he’s sort of experienced in the touring environment.

“That’s going to be probably the strongest part of our team and we’re lucky that two or three of our batters are also our frontline spinners as well, so we’re probably going to be able to bat a little bit deeper.

“Obviously Hamza Riazuddin has played quite a bit of first-team one-day cricket for Hampshire so he’s going to be invaluable in the middle order there.”

Pick admits England’s seam attack will be on a learning curve especially with Glamorgan’s James Harris having pulled out due to injury.

Leicestershire’s Nathan Buck, Atif Sheikh of Derbyshire Hampshire’s Chris Wood are the tourists' options.

“We’ve got a fairly inexperienced pace battery which for me is quite exciting in that all except Chris Wood will be available for the next World Cup in 2010 in Kenya," said Pick.

“So it’s good to get them together and hopefully they will have had a learning tour under their belt before they go to the World Cup next winter.

“While they’re relatively inexperienced this winter, the flipside is that they’ll have a tour under their belt and be used to playing in Africa, hopefully if they’re selected to go to the World Cup next year.”

While England were disappointed to lose Harris and Durham's Ben Stokes, there was good news with Azeem Rafiq, the Yorkshire spinner, joining the party.

England’s opponents were World Cup runners-up in March, losing to India in the final, but the new crop are something of an unknown quantity to Pick.

He is expecting a stern examination of technique and temperament for the youngsters, including wicketkeepers Tom Poynton of Derbyshire and Essex’s Adam Wheater.

Pick said: “They’ve had a bit of resurgence in South African Under-19 cricket.”

“They went through a period up to a couple of years ago when I’m not sure how much importance was placed on Under-19 cricket.

“But a couple of years ago they re-emphasised the importance of Under-19 cricket in South Africa, and invested some resources in it and some top level coaching, and got a good coaching staff together.

“As with any sport that they play at that level, they will be very competitive, I’m sure. How many are left over from last year’s World Cup I don’t know but I’m sure they’ll be a handful certainly in South Africa.”