South Africa shock the World Cup with Netherlands defeat
Needing to beat their unfancied rivals for a semi-finals berth, the Proteas lose by 13 runs to go out, allowing Pakistan to progress with India
It was meant to be a Sunday morning stroll for South Africa. The equation was simple too, beat Netherlands and qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup. Instead, South Africa endured another nightmare in an ICC tournament, messing up a straightforward chase to be eliminated.
It proved the biggest upset of this World Cup that had already seen hosts and holders Australia go out on Saturday. And there was no warning the team seen as the best suited for the conditions and experienced to lift their first title would flounder.
The Dutch were thrilled to pull off arguably their biggest victory in the first game at the Adelaide Oval, scoring 158/4 and then restricting South Africa to 145/8. Three of South Africa's pacers—Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi—went wicketless before their batters caved in.
Pakistan had little realistic chance of qualifying when the day dawned, as India too were expected to beat Zimbabwe. South Africa’s defeat turned the second match at Adelaide between Pakistan and Bangladesh into a virtual knockout tie, which the former won by five wickets to qualify from Group 2 alongside India.
Memories flooded in of South Africa, World Cups and choking—1996 quarter-final defeat against West Indies, 1999 and 2007 semi-final losses against Australia, and the 2011 quarter-final and 2015 semi-final setbacks against New Zealand.
“It (chokers’ tag) will always be there until we find ourselves in a situation when we get to a final and we come up on the right side of a result,” a teary-eyed South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma, who had struggled to score through the tournament, said after the match.
“Everything was in our hands. We had the confidence, we had the belief. We had the form behind us. When it mattered, we just couldn’t do the business,” he said. India (8 points) and Pakistan (6) went through with South Africa (5) finishing third.
Coach Mark Boucher blamed it on collective failure. “It’s not the only upset that’s happened in the tournament. There have been some very good sides that were beaten by the so-called lesser countries. We didn't bowl like we should have bowled but we didn’t bat like I thought we should have batted. The total that was put on for us was maybe a little more than we expected but it was one our batting unit could have chased down. We deserved to be better as a squad, but it didn't happen.”
South Africa opted to bowl hoping their lethal pace unit will make early inroads and set up the game. They turned up cold and the first breakthrough came only in the ninth over, through part-timer Aiden Markram with Netherlands on 58 in the ninth over.
The Dutch total of 158 was decent considering the wicket wasn’t easy to score on. With their firepower, South Africa were expected to tame the total, but they kept losing wickets regularly to lose by 13 runs.
Quinton de Kock (13) couldn’t give them a typically rapid start. Rilee Rossouw (25) failed to convert his innings into something substantial like his century against Bangladesh. Aiden Markram (17) and David Miller (17) weren’t as focussed as they were while guiding the team to victory over India with half-centuries.
South Africa had their destiny in their hands, only to blow it. They almost beat Zimbabwe before their rain-curtailed match was called off, but victories over Bangladesh and India made them favourites to qualify for the knockouts. They had lost to Pakistan.
Pakistan had a contrasting progress. They started with defeats against India and Zimbabwe, and it almost looked like their tournament was over. But three consecutive wins--achieved mostly on impressive individual performances—over Netherlands, South Africa and Bangladesh saw them cross the line.
Pakistan bowlers restricted Bangladesh to 127/8 and after the latter missed a few chances on the field, eased to 128/5 in 18.1 overs. Pakistan will face New Zealand and India will take on England in the semi-finals.
Pakistan’s victory on Sunday meant the Netherlands gained direct entry to the 2024 edition as they finished fourth in the group due to a better run-rate than Bangladesh.
Having got a fresh lease of life, Pakistan were on the ball throughout. Their bowlers delivered a top-notch performance. Shaheen Shah Afridi showed he is hitting top form and the Bangladesh batters couldn't handle him. The left-arm fast bowler returned a superb 4/22 as only Najmul Hossain Shanto (54 – 48b, 7x4) made his start count.
Openers Mohammad Rizwan (32) and skipper Babar Azam (25) had a 57-run partnership, their best of the tournament. Though they had some ups and downs, they eased to victory in the end.
Bangladesh could have put Pakistan under pressure straightaway if wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan had not put down a regulation edge by Rizwan off Taskin Ahmed in the first over. Later, Mohammad Haris (31) and Shan Masood (24*) kept the scoreboard ticking to guide Pakistan to victory.