Farhaan Behardien: The Proteas’ trip isn’t unraveling

The Proteas’ tour of England isn’t on the verge of unraveling … if you believe Farhaan Behardien.

But the threat really does look real going into Friday evening’s second T20 in Taunton.

Should South Africa lose, this quick series – it concludes on Sunday – will be down the drain and complete another sorry chapter on this trip.

Also read: Thoughtless Proteas smashed by ruthless England

They’ve already lost the ODI series too and were eliminated early in the ICC Champions Trophy.

“Look, the tour has been a tour,” said Behardien.

“We’ve played some good cricket in patches. The real disappointment has been being knocked out of the Champions Trophy. We haven’t played to our potential.”

Various observers and fans believe the Proteas need a positive series result to give the Test side confidence going into next month’s four-match battle.

In other words, this T20 series has to “save” the tour.

Behardien though is reluctant to view it that way.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a chance to resurrect the tour. We’re going to try our best to win the series, we’re going to come hard,” he said.

“We’ve got to lick our wounds and get up and go. The guys are eager to perform.”

However, one could be forgiven for wondering exactly how motivated the Proteas are.

Despite being thoroughly outplayed by England in Wednesday’s nine-wicket loss, South Africa didn’t help their cause with an uninspired performance in the field.

“The way we ended the game was a bit disappointing,” said Behardien.

“Even I dropped a catch late on. It’s something I never want to do on a cricket field. We’re realistic about what happened. England won with over five overs to spare. That’s a hiding in the T20 format. As much as we wanted to keep our energy, the game had already drifted away. It’s difficult to motivate yourself then.”

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