Netherlands shocked South Africa as they have defeated South Africa on Tuesday as both the sides met each other at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala in the 15th match of Men’s Cricket World Cup, 2023. Netherlands defeated South Africa by 38 runs in a rain affected encounter as Proteas won the toss and decided to field first.
Earlier, the prolonged rain delay ensured that it would be a 43 overs encounter. Netherlands was reduced to 140 for 7 in 33.5 overs by South African bowling attack. Netherlands Captain Scott Edwards (78 of 69 balls) and Roelof van der Merwe (29 of 19 deliveries) gave some momentum to their innings. Late order hitting of Aryan Dutt (23 of 9 balls) took the score to 245 for the loss of 8 wickets. Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and KKG Rabada got two wickets each. Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj got a wicket each.
South Africa, in reply, was under deep trouble early as they had lost 6 for 109 in 25 overs. Heinrich Klaasen (28 of 28 balls), David Miller (43 of 52 balls) and Gerald Coetzee (22 of 23 balls) put up some resistance as Netherlands ran through the Proteas batting order. Later on, Keshav Maharaj’s gritty knock (40 of 37 deliveries) could only able to minimise the margin of their defeat. So far as the Dutch bowlers are concerned, Paul van Meekeren, Roelof van der Merwe, Bas de Leede had picked up 2 wickets each. Logan van Beek picked up 3 scalps and Collin Ackermann had also taken a wicket.
Dutch skipper Scott Edwards was awarded the player of the match.
In post- match presentation he has said, “Extremely proud. We came in with high expectations. We had very good players. Happy to get the first win out of the way. Hopefully, few more wins. We do a fair bit of research. We come up with a few matchups. Some days it works and some days it doesn’t. We were in decent positions in the first few games but then fell away. I am sure there will be plenty of fans staying up and watching this. Extremely happy with the win.”
This is the first time Netherlands beating a Full Member nation in ODI World Cup.
