Netherlands have done it, again! A year after the Dutch shockingly ended South Africa's forgettable stay in Australia in the T20 World Cup, Netherlands scripted another famous win over the Proteas, taking down the seemingly potential title contender by 38 runs in the rain-curtailed World Cup 2023 match in Dharamsala. The second major upset of the tournament came just two nights after Afghanistan stunned defending champions England in Delhi, as Netherlands ended their 16-year long wait for another win in World Cup.
Netherlands, who made it through to the 2023 World Cup after finishing second behind Sri Lanka in the Qualifiers after having missed the previous two editions, secured only their third World Cup win on Tuesday and first since 2007 when they had defeated Scotland by eight wickets in Basseterre. They had beaten Namibia back in 2003 to secure their maiden World Cup win. This was also their maiden win against a Test-playing nation while for South Africa, it was their first loss against an associate country.
A captain's knock
Intermittent rain right after the toss, had delayed the start to the match, before reducing it to a 43-over a side contest. Amid the overcast conditions and the extra chill in the mountain air, South Africa fast bowlers - Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi - got a lot out of the surface. But it was their death bowling that left questions aplenty as Netherlands, inspired by their skipper Scott Edwards, smashed 105 runs for the loss of just one wicket in the final 10 overs
Edwards (78 off 69) shared masterful 64-run partnership off 37 balls with former South Africa cricketer Roelof van der Merwe (29 off 19) in the fag end of the innings to take the team past 200.
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{{/usCountry}}Edwards (78 off 69) shared masterful 64-run partnership off 37 balls with former South Africa cricketer Roelof van der Merwe (29 off 19) in the fag end of the innings to take the team past 200.
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{{/usCountry}}The reason behind South Africa rising as a potential option to claim the elusive World Cup title has been their pace attack and the Netherlands top-order got a bitter taste of it on Tuesday. Rabada was first to strike, in his opening delivery, as he dismissed Vikramjit Singh (2 off 16) before Marco Jansen removed fellow opener Max O'Dowd (18) with an angled away delivery.
Rabada picked another in quick time, trapping Bas de Leede (2) in front before Gerald Coetzee joined the party with the dismissal of Colin Ackerman as Netherlands, who are playing their first World Cup since 2011, were reduced to 82/5 in the 21st over, before Edwards and Van der Merwe kicked off their counter-offensive show
The Netherlands captain, who had looked off-colour in the first two matches, found his rhythm as evident from the sweeps and reverse sweeps he executed to perfection against Keshav Maharaj before smashing Rabada off a pull shot for a mighty six. He also struck 10 boundaries.
Edwards was first ably assisted by Van der Merwe in a 64-run stand which lifted Netherlands from 140/7, before number 10 Aryan Dutt joined him in the party by smashing three sixes in his entertaining 9-ball 23 to provide the final flourish. Netherlands eventually finished with 245/8, which was also largely aided by uncharacteristically poor and lethargic fielding from South Africa while 32 runs were conceded as extras following a dismal show from the seamers on a track that aided the variety.
South Africa choke, again!
South Africa did not bat second in an ODI game for a while now. In 25 matches this year, they batted second 11 times with a 6-5 win-loss rate. The last time they fielded first was six matches back, in Bloemfontein against Australia where they were bowled out for 269 in their chase of 393. The last time they won a match as chasing side was back in March when they beat Netherlands by eight wickets. South Africa had made the decision at toss that day. In fact, of those 11 aforementioned games, only thrice did the Proteas opt to bowl first at toss and they won each of those, and probably that and their impressive start in the 2023 World Cup gave them the confidence that they could script a win in Dharamsala. But Netherlands had other plans.
After a promising start from the openers, the Quinton de Kock erred in rushing into the round-arm drifter from Ackerman in the eighth over as he top-edged it for wicketkeeper Edwards to complete the dismissal. Former Proteas player Van der Merwe then struck twice in two overs removing Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen while Paul van Meekeren removed Aiden Markram, all in a space of just 13 balls as the pre-match favourites went four down for just 44 in the 12th over.
David Miller, who has been in a sublime form in the tournament, remained South Africa's only hope and he looked to rebuild not once but twice with 40-odd partnerships - one with Heinrich Klaasen (28) and other with Gerald Coetzee (22), but the Netherlands fast bowlers struck at regular intervals to crush his plans before Van Beek removed the danger man after stringing an array of dot balls.
After Bas de Leede sent the Proteas nine down, the loss looked inevitable, but Keshav Maharaj kept the battle alive with a fighting 37-ball 40, keeping in mind how important net run rate could stand in the final stages of the tournament. The fight only lasted till the penultimate ball when Van Beek dismissed Maharaj to hand Netherlands a famous 38-run victory.