Dominic Hendricks savours Under-19 honour

Dominic Hendricks, the South Africa batsman, has described his Player-of-the-Tournament Award at the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand as a "great honour". Hendricks was the tournament's highest run-getter, with 391 runs at 97.75 including a century and three fifties. His team, however, finished fifth, beating India in the play-off after losing to Sri Lanka in the quarter-final.

"It really is one of the highlights of my young career. I never went to the tournament thinking about the award, but rather focused on my cricket and doing the best for my country," Hendricks said.

Hendricks played a crucial role in South Africa's domination of the league phase of the World Cup, scoring two half-centuries, including 94 against Australia in a tight two-run win. He faltered against Sri Lanka in the knockout phase, but followed up with a century against hosts New Zealand in the fifth play-off semi-final and rounded off the tournament with 64 against India to help chase down 237.

"Contributing to the victory against Australia with my 94 is high up there as one of the special moments for me during the four weeks in New Zealand. The century I scored against New Zealand also stands out for me, as well as giving India, who beat us at home, a hiding. We really showed that we can compete against the world's best," Hendricks said. "Everything has happened rather quickly but for now I will be studying a degree in Sports Science at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and trying to get in as many games as possible for the Highveld Strikers."