Australia say opening win is "priceless" in ICC U/19 CWC

Australia captain Moises Henriques said his side's victory against South Africa on Sunday was "priceless" in their bid to secure qualification for the Super League of the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup.

"We have still got a long way to go but it has given us a buffer," he said after the 175-run demolition of South Africa in the Group B clash at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

"We have got to keep up this level of performance but in a Group that could be tight then this win is priceless," he added.

Australia's other opponents in the Group are the 2004 finalists the West Indies and the United States of America, who are making their first appearances in the finals. Only two of the sides can progress through to the Super League quarter-finals.

Australia's win came after the frustrations of defeat in both their warm-up matches, against Pakistan and India, when they failed to bat out their 50 over allocation on both occasions.

And Henriques admitted his side had learnt a lot from those losses.

"In the first game we mixed the batting order up and in the second match the Indian spinners bowled well on a spin-friendly pitch," he said.

"We kept trying to be positive against them and it did not come off so we learnt that it is also important to consolidate and that is what we did so well today."

The captain was also keen to praise opener Tom Cooper whose 104, the bedrock of Australia's mammoth 316-9, won him the man of the match award.

"It was a great innings," said Henriques. "He put his head down early on when it was a struggle and then when the ball stopped doing so much he played superbly."

Cooper added: "My role is usually to play a few shots but I had to anchor the innings and I was more than happy to do that.

"The opening bowler (Craig Alexander, who took 4-47) bowled very well early on and the ball was doing quite a bit if you got it in the right areas.

"I had a bit of luck but I made sure I made the most of it and it helped me that the blokes at the other end played so well.

"It is a dream come true for me. I did not realise that it was the first hundred of the tournament but that makes it pretty special," he added.