A composed half-century by Farhaan Behardien, and a five-star all-round bowling performance propelled South Africa to a 47-run bonus-point win against Australia in the third One Day International match of the triangular series at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday.
Behardien shepherded the lower order of South Africa from 112 for six to 189 for nine as he struck 62 off 82 balls with four fours and a six.
South Africa defended the moderate total in magnificent fashion. The Proteas restricted Australia to 142, despite an electrifying 72 by Aaron Finch and a stubborn 30 by Nathan Lyon.
Kagiso Rabada was the spearhead with his 3-13. Wayne Parnell celebrated his return to international cricket with 2-23, causing a top-order wobble. Both wrist spinners, Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi, were on song. Tahir finished with 2-28.
The left-arm wrist spinner Shamsi, on debut, took 1-38.
The left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso wrapped up the tail with 2-26 in 5.2 overs.
Finch kept Australia afloat while all around him were losing their wickets on a slow, low-bouncing track.
He was adventurous but measured in striking 72 off 103 balls with six fours and three sixes. He became the ninth Australian to lose his wicket when AB de Villiers dived to his right in the covers to snap him up off Phangiso.
Parnell trapped the in-form David Warner in front for 1 in the second over and added the scalp of Steve Smith in similar fashion for 8 when he changed his line of attack.
In between, KG bowled Usman Khawaja for 2.
Australia was wobbling on 21 for three.
Shamsi struck in his first over when Glenn Maxwell was trapped leg-before-wicket for 3.
The left-arm wrist spinner had Australia in sixes and sevens.
He could have grabbed at least three more scalps because leg-before-wicket appeals were not answered in the affirmative when the deliveries would have struck the middle stump halfway up.
Tahir removed Mitchell Marsh off a faint edge for 8. Australia, on 72 for five, was staring down the barrel.
The re-introduction of Rabada for a second spell proved to be an instant success as Matthew Wade feathered it to Quinton de Kock for 2 and Australia slipped to 83 for six.
The 20-year old sensation ripped through Nathan Coulter-Nile’s defences with a superb Yorker to add to Australia’s woes.
Tahir’s googly proved the undoing of Adam Zampa for a duck.
Phangiso had Finch caught and finally accounted for Lyon just when he look set to be a nuisance factor with a series of sweeps and drives.
Earlier, De Kock and Hashim Amla made a steady start before De Kock was trapped in front by Josh Hazlewood for 18.
The offspinner Nathan Lyon removed RileeRossouw for 7, trapped in front.
AB de Villiers and Amla shared in a 40-run stand for the third wicket. Amla was run out for 35 after being stranded mid-pitch by Smith’s good cover-fielding.
Coulter-Nile changed the course of the South African innings in his return spell when he bowled De Villiers with an off-cutter for 22 and also struck the off-stump of JP Duminy with a delivery that straightened.
The South African top-order battled with the low bounce and slow conditions, while Coulter-Nile and Hazlewood judged conditions expertly and bowled an excellent straight line.
Hazlewood bowled Parnell for 2 with a delivery that kept alarmingly low.
Behardien and Aaron Phangiso resurrected the innings with a patient 37-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
When Phangiso holed out to Hazlewood off Zampa, Rabada stepped into the supporting role and produced an unbeaten 15.
Hazlewood was the pick with 2-20, while Coulter-Nile captured 2-38 and Lyon ended with 1-40. Zampa took 1-46.
- Supersport
