History repeats itself! South Africa has been left astonished. It’s as if the “Orange Fever” that started as an epidemic in Adelaide has transformed into a pandemic at Dharamshala. This loss will be a bitter one for South Africa to digest, reminiscent of their exit from the T20 World Cup in 2022. They entered this tournament as one of the top teams, following victories against Sri Lanka and Australia. The Dutch have decimated the apple cart of the SA unit once again; they win by 38 runs.
South Africa’s chase hit a roadblock in the initial 10 overs, losing four wickets. The Dutch spinners made life difficult for the South African batsmen, keeping them under control. Aryan Dutt began with a maiden over, and RVM, just as he did with the bat, completely altered the game with his bowling.
Credit goes to the Netherlands’ captain, who not only played the role of a savior with the bat but also outmaneuvered South Africa with his strategic moves on the field. This is a historic victory, as the Netherlands has defeated a Test-playing nation in a 50-over World Cup for the first time. Just as Afghanistan stunned England a couple of nights ago.
Scott Edwards was declared player of the match.
Put to bat first by South Africa in the 43-over-per-side affair due to rain, the Netherlands were off to a decent start with opener Max O’Dowd hitting Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen for fours. Vikramjit Singh tried to keep matters steady at the other end, but it did not last long. A top edge by Vikramjit landed in the hands of Heinrich Klaasen, giving Kagiso Rabada his first wicket.
A half-century by skipper Scott Edwards and his quickfire stands with Roelof van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt helped the Netherlands reach a respectable 245/8 in 43 overs in the World Cup match against South Africa at Dharamshala on Tuesday.
Vikramjit was out for two, and the Netherlands were 22/1 in 6.1 overs.
Bas de Leede and Colin Ackermann started to rebuild the innings, taking the Netherlands to 32/2 in their 10 overs of powerplay.
Reolof and Scott then launched a brutal assault on South African bowlers, with Edwards getting his 14th ODI fifty in 53 balls. They brought up a fifty-run stand in 30 balls.
The 64-run partnership ended after Reolof was caught behind by de Kock on a Ngidi delivery for 29 (19 balls, three fours, and a six). The Netherlands were 204/8 in 39.5 overs.
Edwards and Aryan Dutt did not remove their feet from the accelerator. Dutt smashed three sixes, preying on the bad line and length of Rabada, Coetzee, and Ngidi.
The Netherlands ended at 245/8 in 43 overs, with Dutt 23* (nine balls) and Edwards 78* (69 balls, 10 fours, and a six).
