Behardien ready to step up for SA

'I’ve been preparing for this since I was a little boy’

FARHAAN Behardien is used to people not wanting him around.

For instance, when he took two runs off the first ball of the 49th over of South Africa’s innings against West Indies in Sydney last Friday.

And that with AB de Villiers incandescent on 127 not out. What did Behardien think he was doing putting himself back on strike?

“When I ran two, the crowd booed me,” Behardien said yesterday. “My friends back home, they actually made a joke. They sent me a message and we had a good chuckle about it.”

So Behardien was fully prepared to see the disappointment on the gathered journalists’ faces in Canberra yesterday when he and not the advertised Dale Steyn pitched up for the Proteas press conference.

Apparently, the fires near Steyn’s home at Stonehurst in Cape Town prevented him from talking to reporters.

Steyn’s best statistic of the tournament going into South Africa’s game against Ireland early this morning is that he is 46th among wicket-takers.

He does not rate in the top 50 in average, economy rate or strike rate.

And Steyn, who would play his 100th one-day international if he took the field today, is the highest ranked bowler at the World Cup.

By his skyscraper standards, Steyn has had a simplex of a tournament. And now this – a mountain fire threatening his home.

“Of course, it does affect you in some sort of way, but we have quite a strong support structure around us: the people and the friends and the family that’s here,” Behardien said.