South Africa Youth Discussion

[werdo64]

Hey Guys,
I don't post on the Forums much, but simmo has asked me to give an update on the 16YO's number to give you all an idea on what we need to pull.
At present SA has 28 16YO's with 1K+ wages, so almost a full squad.
The breakdown is such:
11 Batsman
5 A/R's 3 lfs, 1 lfm, 1 rfm (equal batting and bowling. I am not certain if they will be trained as A/R's)
3 FS, 3 Lefties and 1 rightie
1 WS, a rightie
4 M, all righties
2 FM, both righties
1 F, a rightie

We don't have a keeper (the best is Ordinary in this group), and otherwise we are short on wrisies and fasties.

I'll keep posting like this each week so you have an idea on where we are up to.

Any questions, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

[boscorp]

That's some useful figures. Hopefully a few more managers will now be aware of what type of talent to scout for. This is a good start to improving our chances for success, A weekly update throughout the whole season should see communication on the forums pick up.

[werdo64]

We honestly need more managers to do this as I know from past experience and the players on the market that many do not really know what they should do.

you mean not to click GENERAL and hope for luck?

This is a bit of a fallacy, to be honest. All youth recruits are luck, no matter what you pick to recruit.
Essentially all you are picking with specifying is where you would like the skills weighted, and/or limiting what bowl types the player can have.

Today I'll be posting numbers for the U20 team of Nat or potential Nat players in each year group.

[GM-crowfan65]

For the record, choosing general gives you a player where the skills can be a little all over the place, likely to have higher overall rating
Choosing a specific type has a slightly more chance to recruit a player of the type you selected, secondaries likely to be lower as is overall ratings

[werdo64]

Ok, I haven't had time today to finish the collation of the 17, 18, and 19 YO's to give ideas on these players, but I have the stats on the 16YO Youth Pulls:

At present SA has 30 16YO's with 1K+ wages, so now a full squad.
The breakdown is such:
12 Batsman (1 new this week)
5 A/R's 3 lfs, 1 lfm, 1 rfm (equal batting and bowling. I am not certain if they will be trained as A/R's)
3 FS, 3 Lefties and 1 rightie
1 WS, a rightie
4 M, all righties
2 FM, both righties
1 F, a rightie
1 Keeper

[simmo014]

Thanks for the update werdo. At this stage we would still like at least 1 more quality keeper but preferably 2 more. Also be handy to have a few more seamers, preferably LFM or LF but of course that's a bit more random.
Realistically though any additional $1k+ player is a bonus and a bit of depth and variety for us. Thank you to everyone for considering our future needs to make us competitive

[simmo014]

Yeah of course. We don't discount those sub 1k players and they may well turn out as Nat standard if they get trained well and have starting levels in the right places, but they are starting from the back of the pack so we are concentrating on the $1k players just for now.
Watching gun players or potential Nat players get trained poorly has to be the most frustrating part of being in a Nat setup. Unfortunately most managers don't want to engage in training conversations and are set in their ways, which is their right to do so from their club perspective. We have managed to politely convince 1 or 2 players managers to consider a different training view but it's the exception and not the rule unfortunately. And already this season I am seeing a few of our top recruits that have had very little game time or none at all so they will be behind in experience from the start. I realise all nations have that problem but for nations like SA that barely manage to fill a 30 man squad with acceptable talent then that has a real effect down the track at 19/20. I'd urge our managers to try to get even the odd game into our 16yo's if possible to help the cause

[boscorp]

Experience is the biggest factor that any manager can influence if they want to develop a potential Nat player. I think its fair to say one level of experience has more impact on performance than one level of a primary skill. My opinion is SOD and T20 for the next few seasons will add more experience than youth matches in these current lower divs. It helps if 16 yr old potentials are quickly identified and exposed to some senior matches. The 8 current squad members with reliable or better experience have all played many senior matches and come from a variety of clubs. We have a good number of managers keen to develop youth these days.