South Africa U19s had built a useful lead of 172 at the end of day two of the unofficial Test with England at Beckenham, reaching 97 for 3 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 4 for 47, before JJ Basson finished them off with 3 for 50. James Minto was England’s top scorer with 66 not out, while Rocky Flintoff made 63.

England began day two on 13 for 2 and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, as they struggled to cope with Majola, who consistently bowled above 80mph.

Will Bennison, who was on 4 overnight, was the first man to go, caught behind off Majola for 15. Flintoff was on 8 when he edged JJ Basson to third slip, but van Schalkwyk couldn’t cling on to difficult chance. Majola then bowled Falconer for 9 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 5 when Ntando Soni had him caught by by Paul James at point. Kruiskamp then caught and bowled Harry Wallace for 12, leaving England on 141 for 7 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 4, 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 2 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 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 off side and was snared by Wallace.