World Cup: Netherlands defeats South Africa by 38 runs in a low-scoring thriller
The Netherlands, who had a respectable batting performance despite losing early wickets, later stunned South Africa with the ball as they defeated them by 38 runs in the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup. First time in the history of the ODI World Cup, the Netherlands defeated a Test-playing country. This was the same Dutch team that eliminated South Africa from the T20 World Cup 2022, and they easily defeated them in the 50-over World Cup as well.
After a delay of two hours due to heavy rain, the match was reduced to 43 overs per side. South Africa won the toss and opted to bowl first under favorable conditions for seam bowling. The Dutch openers- Vikramjit Singh and Max O'Dowd, weathered the storm for a few overs before the South African pacers hit their mark. The wickets fell at regular intervals, and the Netherlands were struggling at 140/7 in the 34th over.
A few of the Dutch batters got to starts, but none of them failed to trouble the African nation until Roelof van der Merwe walked out to bat number 9. The former South African played a few unbelievable strokes and built confidence in Scott Edwards, who joined hands together to change the complexion of the game. The duo added 64 runs for the 8th wicket, which was followed by another excellent partnership (unbeaten 41 runs) for the 9th wicket between skipper Edwards and Aryan Dutt.
The Dutch skipper hit a magnificent half-century and remained unbeaten at 78 off 69 balls, while van der Merwe scored 29 off 19 balls, and Dutt was unbeaten at 23 off just 9 balls, shifting the momentum completely in the Orange camp. For South Africa, Ngidi, Rabada, and Jansen picked a couple of wickets, while Coetzee and Maharaj scalped a wicket each. Scott Edwards was brilliant as captain, too, as he changed the bowlers regularly according to the match-ups and conditions.
Wickets fell like a pack of cards, and South Africa was reduced to 44/4 at one stage. Heinrich Klaasen (28 off 28) and David Miller added 45 runs for the 5th wicket, giving South Africa one glimmer of hope. de Leede dropped a high ball on Miller, and it could have been costly, but the Orange Army did brilliantly by killing the contest with Logan van Beek knocking over Killer Miller (43 off 52) in the 31st over. For the Netherlands, van Beek took 3 wickets, van Meekren, van der Merwe, and de Leede took 2 scalps each as they bundled out South Africa for 207/10.
