Cape Town - After finally coming good for the Proteas, Farhaan Behardien has described his match-winning innings against Australia as “pretty satisfying”.
The right-hander has struggled for runs in recent times, but on Tuesday scored a measured 62 off 84 balls to help the Proteas post 189/9 on a slow pitch in Guyana.
The Australians were then bowled out for 142 in 34.2 overs to see South Africa claim an emphatic 47-run bonus-point win in their second tri-series match.
At the post-match press conference, man-of-the-match Behardien said the innings “rates quite highly” as some of the best he has played.
“It’s nice to get a score for the team,” he said. “Personally, to be out there, to ground it out for nearly 30 overs... and the trend of white ball cricket over the last year has just been big scores and free flowing batting innings with big sixes and fours. So, for me to pull out that performance was pretty satisfying.”
After the disappointment of losing their first game to the West Indies, the Proteas now travel to St Kitts ahead of their second match against Australia at Warner Park on Saturday.
They will also play the West Indies there, before heading to Barbados for their final two round-robin games.
Behardien expects the pitches in St Kitts and Barbados to be more batter-friendly than was the case in Guyana.
“Apparently St Kitts and Barbados offer a bit more pace and bounce, a bit more even and true bounce. Guyana was low and slow and brought all the spinners into play,” said Behardien.
“So there was a big emphasis on playing spin and hopefully the tracks will be a little bit more in favour of the batters in St Kitts and Barbados.”