'We train our young guys differently' - Jennings

South Africa prepare for the Under-19 World Cup differently when compared to most other teams of their standing at the tournament in Townsville. Not for them the extensive tour programmes to familiarise their young cricketers with foreign conditions, various opponents and life on the road - experiences their opponents take pains to acquire. Although they visited England in 2011, when they won 4-2, and hosted Pakistan and Zimbabwe, South Africa's immediate preparation has been a gruelling three-month camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.

"We have a different view on how to train our younger guys," says their Under-19 coach Ray Jennings. "We have programmes in South Africa where we create pressure and intensity for players to develop, whereas the Indians and some other guys tend to create the intensity on tours."

"This year, for example, we had a group of players together for three months in a national academy programme. We trained them from six in the morning to six at night, not only from a cricketing point of view but also from a life point of view, [we] try and mature them. It's a different programme that Cricket South Africa has started. We haven't gone the route to go on tour. Our three and a half months have been intense, with early morning runs and all sorts of things at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria."

Won't other teams' prior knowledge of opponents and conditions in Townsville give them an edge over South Africa at the tournament? "Why should it?" asks Jennings. "I don't think the players that we worked with fear any opposition. We're aware that we're as good as anyone in the world. We don't have an inferiority complex on skills.

"This side is well balanced. We've got a really good group of fast bowlers. There are a lot of allrounders in the side, one or two guys who can win games with the bat and the ball."

Their performances in the warm-up games in Brisbane back up Jennings' confidence in his players. South Africa kept New Zealand to 184 for 8 before their openers Quinton de Kock and Chad Bowes put on 127 to ensure victory before retiring out after 20 overs. De Kock is perhaps South Africa's premier batsman, having scored 341 runs on the tour of England. He has three international centuries - two against Pakistan and one against Zimbabwe.

"I would have preferred if New Zealand had scored more runs so that we could have been challenged in our batting department. But our bowlers bowled well and our batsmen put in a good start," Jennings said after the warm-up. "But everyday you play at Under-19 level is a different type of challenge."

South Africa's batsmen were challenged by Bangladesh in the second warm-up the next day, but Bowes scored an unbeaten 104 to help his team achieve the target off the penultimate ball.

Jennings has earned the reputation of being a tough coach, a disciplinarian, and the grown-up manner in which these teenagers are treated by umpires and match referees in the World Cup appeals to him. He says there's zero tolerance for breaking rules, bad behaviour and corruption. It all adds up to nurturing a young cricketer's character, something Jennings puts a premium on vis-a-vis technical skills at this age.

"Technique is important but if you don't have a character around that technique, it's not going to be good," he says. "If you have a bad technique and a good character, you can always get through and work your technique, but you can't really work on the character of the person. I always look at the character of the person and the technique second."

That strength of character is certain to be tested at the World Cup, and more so in the coming years, when the danger of these cricketers falling off the charted path due to distraction or failure is greatest. "From this age until 23, it's quite a tough age where a lot of players have other things come in the way - girlfriends, life ... and the partying life and things like that," Jennings said. "There are a lot of distractions in the next two three years but I like to believe we've addressed that in the last six months in the national academy."

Will South Africa's intense and different preparation work at this World Cup? They begin their campaign on Sunday, against Bangladesh, having made the finals in 2002 and 2008 but losing both, to Australia and India. From Jennings' point of view, winning a maiden Under-19 title would be an achievement to savour, but the satisfaction of watching some of these boys make the senior team is what he wants more.