Behardien ready for Foxes bow
Thu 7 Jul 2016
Leicestershire Foxes welcome new overseas signing Farhaan Behardien to the squad ahead of a hectic period of NatWest T20 Blast action.
The Foxes face Derbyshire Falcons under the floodlights at the Fischer County Ground on Friday, before making the trip up to Durham Jets on Sunday afternoon.
Leicestershire then host Notts Outlaws and Lancashire Lightning on Tuesday and Friday before a trip to face Birmingham Bears on Sunday week, and Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald believes South Africa international Behardien could have a major impact in a crucial ten-day period.
“Farhaan is a quality player, we’ve seen him be very effective at international level and in the IPL, and he’s a great addition after the disappointing news that [previous signing] Rilee Rossouw had injured his shoulder and couldn’t join us after all,” McDonald said.
“We have five T20 games in a row now, and of course we’d have liked to be better placed going into them, but just because we’re up against it as things stand right now, it doesn’t mean we can’t go on a run and squeeze into the top four.
“We probably need to win five of our last six, but once you get a bit of momentum in this format you can go on a run, and we believe if we can get on to the front foot on Friday having a lot of games in a short period can work in our favour.”
Behardien, 32, has arrived in Leicester having spent last month in the Caribbean, playing for South Africa in the tri-nation one-day tournament against West Indies and Australia. He has played 47 ODIs and 25 T20 matches for his country since making his international debut in March 2012.
He was a member of South Africa’s 2016 World T20 squad and earlier this year also secured his first IPL contract, with Kings XI Punjab.
A batting all-rounder, Behardien averages close to 30 in T20 cricket, with a strike rate of 123, and bowls medium pace. He replaces Umar Akmal in the Foxes’ squad, the Pakistan international batsman having moved to the Caribbean Premier League.
The Foxes new signing has been named in a 14-man squad for tomorrow night’s game against the Falcons alongside Ben Raine, who was rested during the last outing at Northants Steelbacks.
Tickets for the first of two East Midlands derbies at the FCG in five days are available for £15 adults, £10 concessions & £5 under 16s if brought before 11.59pm this evening by buying online HERE
Foxes (from): Pettini (capt), Cosgrove, Delport, Behardien, K O’Brien, Horton, Hill, Burgess, Wells, Dexter, Raine, McKay, Taylor, Naik
