The Netherlands trounced South Africa by 38 runs on Tuesday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala, shocking the cricket community and causing the biggest upset in the history of the ICC World Cup 2023.
Netherlands beat South Africa: This was the Dutch team’s first victory in the major competition. Once again proving to be a dangerous foe for South Africa, the Netherlands, who had previously shocked Africa in the T20 World Cup 2022, caused issues for Temba Bavuma’s team from the start of their innings.
After a dismal start that saw dependable batsmen like Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aidan Markram all return to the pavilion, South Africa found themselves at 44-4 in just 11.2 overs.
The team of Scott Edwards continued to be in charge, applying pressure to the Proteas as they sought to reach the 246-run goal.
There was a ray of optimism that the left-handed batter would lead them closer to the target when Bas de Leede dropped the destructive batter David Miller at 23 runs. A faster delivery from Logan van Beek ended Miller’s innings and dashed his team’s hopes. The Proteas were eventually shut down after scoring only 207 runs.
“Dramatic Turn of Events in Netherlands’ Innings and Upcoming World Cup Matches”
The Netherlands had a similar collapse in their own innings, falling to 50-4 in 15.1 overs and losing wickets often.
“At one point, it briefly appeared that the side would not reach 150 runs before bowing out.” However, batting at number seven, their skipper Scott Edwards played a dogged and heroic innings, scoring 78 off 69 balls with 11 boundaries. His work enabled his team to score 245 runs in 43 overs, a respectable total.
Quick strikes by Roelof van der Merwe (29 off 19) and Aryan Dutt (23 off 9) helped Edwards.
The sizeable loss considerably impacted South Africa’s net run rate (NRR). The Proteas had defeated Sri Lanka and Australia in their first two games by scores of 102 and 134 runs, respectively.
However, At the Wankhede Stadium on October 21, South Africa will compete against the struggling England team, which just suffered a significant defeat to Afghanistan in the World Cup. On the same day in Lucknow, the Netherlands will play Sri Lanka.