The secret of South Africa’s amazing success against Australia lay in the fact that they batted through the 50 overs, says Man of the Match Farhaan Behardien.

The right-hander rescued the Proteas from being a poor 112-6 with his measured 62 off 84 balls (4×4, 1×6), which helped South Africa to a total of 189 before the bowlers completed the job. South Africa won by 47 runs, securing a bonus point as well.

‘One of our failing against West Indies was that we did not bat out our 50 overs. We could have perhaps got another 20 or 30 runs, which could have been the difference. So batting through was a great focus for this match.’ Behardien said. ‘We lost wickets, but at least we earned the right to have a go in the last over.

‘It was particularly satisfying for me, to grind it out for 30 overs and play out the 50 overs. These days white ball cricket is all about big innings, big sixes, free-flowing batting, so it was tough to  hang in there.’

At the innings break, the Proteas knew they had a fight on their hands, added Behardien, ‘but we had given ourselves half a chance’.

‘Kagiso and Wayne bowled really well first up, and when they were three down, we thought we could do it. It was one of those wickets where a lot happened. The spinners were magnificent,’ he said.

 Rabada bowled with swing and precision to pick up an outstanding 3-13 in seven overs while Parnell, back in the squad on the back of an impressive domestic season, returned figures of 2-23. Aaron Phangiso, fresh off his career-best in the opening loss to West Indies, took 2-26 and Imran Tahir picked up 2-39.

Fixtures: Sat 11 South Africa vs Australia (St Kitts); Mon 13 West Indies vs Australia (St Kitts); Wed 15 West Indies vs South Africa (St Kitts); Sun 19  Australia vs South Africa (Barbados); Tue 21  West Indies vs Australia (Barbados); Fri 24  West Indies vs South Africa (Barbados) Sun 26 The Final (Barbados)