There was yet another shock upset at the 2023 Cricket World Cup on Tuesday, after the Netherlands claimed a huge 38 run victory against South Africa.
It’s the second time the Netherlands have claimed victory against South Africa in recent times, with the Dutch having also beaten the Proteas at last year’s T20 World Cup.
Despite a slow start with the bat, a captain’s performance from Scott Edwards would help his team claim a historic victory, helping them get off the mark with their first win of the tournament.
South Africa won the toss but opted to bowl first, perhaps a mistake in the wet conditions, with Netherlands finally stepping to the crease following several rain delays to set their opponents a big run target of 245.
With the game reduced to just 43 overs per side, there was pressure on both teams to get runs on the board quickly. Kagiso Rabada got South Africa off to a solid start, dismissing Vikramjit Singh after just six overs with the Dutch having scored a meagre 22 runs.
The Proteas swarmed around their opponents, with Max O’Dowd walking from the crease next, despite having hit four fours to bring up a score of 18 from 25 balls. This time it would be Marco Jansen taking his wicket, after the opener nicked the ball to Quinton de Kock who was stood just behind off stump.
Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann arrived at the crease, but Rabada would be back again to take the next wicket, sending De Leede walking with an lbw to claim his 150th ODI dismissal.
The Netherlands, who sit 11 places behind South Africa in the ICC ODI rankings, pulled up a half-century with a loss of four wickets, but looked in trouble with Ackermann bowled by Gerald Coetzee for 12 runs off 25 balls.
But that was the turning point in the match, with the innings quickly slipping away from South Africa, with the Dutch middle order batsmen coming out swinging.
Sybrand Engelbrecht and Teja Nidamanuru added scores of 19 and 20 before Edwards, who was perhaps batting way below where he should be, arrived to hit an unbeaten score of 78 with a whopping 10 fours.
He would partner up with Logan van Beek who hit 10 runs off 27 balls before he was replaced at the crease by Roelof van der Merwe, who impressed swiping three fours and a huge six.
Lungi Ngidi would claim his second wicket of the match with De Kock catching Van der Merwe behind, before Aryan Dutt would join Edwards at the crease with the pair seeing out the remainder of the innings.
Prior to the match, the Netherlands had sat rock bottom of the standings having lost their two previous matches to New Zealand and Pakistan, but were bounding in confidence at the break.
And they came out to attack once again, with Ackermann making a breakthrough taking De Kock’s wicket to get the Dutch into the game after South Africa made a solid start.
Lashing wildly at the ball, De Kock nicked his shot to Edwards behind the stumps and walked with South Africa having only put 36 runs on the board.
What followed was a full on collapse, with captain Bavuma, Aiden Markram and Rassie van Der Dussen all being dismissed having scored a cumulative eight runs, to go 44/4.
Van der Merwe would take the captain’s wicket, ripping the ball onto the off stump with a superb piece of bowling.
Paul van Meekeren would follow his lead to bowl Markram before Van der Merwe took his second, dismissing Van der Dussen.
South Africa were in real trouble, but Heinrich Klaasen stepped up to help steady the ship, scoring an 28 runs from 28 balls, but he was soon caught by Singh off Van Beek at fine leg.
With five wickets down, South Africa were seriously on the ropes still chasing 157 runs and were dealt another blow soon after with Van Meekeren dismissing Jansen at 109 for six.
The Proteas would slow things down, adding 45 runs onto their score, before Van Beek claimed his second wicket of the match, crashing the ball into David Miller’s stumps after he lashed wildly at the ball.
Coetzee would follow three overs later with De Leede getting in on the action to take his wicket before claiming that of Rabada’s not long after, dismissing the fast bowler for just nine runs.
Keshav Maharaj and Ngidi were the last two standing, and with the Netherlands baying for the final wicket, the pair would hold resolute, chipping away at the score to bring South Africa into the 200 run mark.
Yet, they could not hold on, with Edwards taking his third catch of the game to dismiss Mahraj after he knicked Van Beek behind to the wicket keeper.
It means the Netherlands will move off the bottom of the table and go ninth in the standings with South Africa staying third, having won two games.
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